Fated Encounter
by JakuraAngel
Summary: In the middle of a night, during a blizzard was the last place he ever imagined their paths would cross. Little did either of them know that someone else had brought them together accidentally and was ready to do anything in their power to stop the bond strengthening between them. SasuSaku. Pre-shippuden at the beginning.
1. Chapter 1

_So this story is a new one that I've been thinking of writing about two years now... I've always shunned the idea of writing something in the original Naruto universe, but I guess now that Naruto 'ended' I could do something to honor it. Though I'm pretty sure this is not as good as the original story, I think if you're interested in new twist for the original one than you might be interested._

_First I just want to to say that you'll soon notice that I've changed the timeline a little. So instead of Naruto returning from training with Jiraiya and Orochimaru being able to take over Sasuke's body after two years, I changed it to three to accommodate my story in the plot line. This **WILL BE A SMUT/LOVE** story between Sasuke and Sakura for they're and will be my OTP for ever. And this story will contain **lemons** in the future chapters._

_Also I wrote this story to fill in the void that I'm starting to feel because I'm about to write the last chapter of my other story _Immortal Death_. If you're interested in SasuSaku vampire stories than go check it out._

_I have nothing else to say except I hope you'll enjoy this and if you do review me for there's no other way for me to know that you want to read more._

* * *

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 1**

* * *

_Two years after Sasuke left Konoha (About eight months before Naruto returns to Konoha)_

The winter was relatively harsh this year compared to the ones the past decade. The snow banks were almost over one meter tall and covering the lower trunks of every tree since it's been snowing like a blizzard the past few days. And there were no signs of it stopping any time soon. It continued to pour down like water from a bucket without restrains.

Unfortunately, the amount of snow falling has caused disturbances between the trades of the villages - even of the biggest villages like those of the hidden ones. All roads were covered in snow making it impossible to deliver goods from one village to another. To put it bluntly, it was a death wish if one tried to travel to another village by foot, especially if you were an average human.

Ninjas on the other hand were a different thing. They could swiftly travel through the forest and not get stuck in the snow like carriages. They could jump on the branches and make sure that nothing stopped them but, at the moment, not many shinobis did proper mission. The ones he has seen so far carried bags of food from one village to another. But mainly everyone tried to avoid traveling as of yet, and preferred to wait for the weather to clear out. Even animals avoided roaming outside. No small footprints that normally covered the snow were seen anywhere and not even the birds sung like they normally would. The entire forest was the epitome of silence, if you didn't count the sound of wind howling as it blew among the trees and tree tops throwing snow everywhere.

But for a certain rogue shinobi not weather or anything was an obstacle to stop him from achieving his goal, as he jumped on tree branches, his black cloak covering his face and warming his body. The weather was cold and prickled his face numb, but he didn't want to stop and warm his body. He needed to deliver the scroll to Orochimaru so they could continue his training.

His lungs were burning because of the cold air he had to breathe and his fingers were stiff from cold. His hands clenched in futile attempt to warm them. His lips were chapped and he avoided licking them. He tried his best to ignore his body's wails of exhaustion and demands for a break.

It was already night fall and the forest was dark apart from the glowing snow falling and covering the ground. However, he wasn't bothered by any of it. He needed to get a move on if he wanted to continue his training and there was nothing in this world that would stop him from succeeding in his goal. There was a moment or two when his body demanded for rest - eyes drooping sleepily - but he forced them open and his body to move forward.

His legs were strained but he sent more and more chakra into them to make sure he didn't collapse. He knew that at this rate there was still two or three days to go before he reached the boarder of Sound. He needed to slow down his pace at some point, for losing consciousness because of stupidity wasn't something he would do or even allow to happen.

Orochimaru had given him a fair amount of time to take care of the mission in which he had succeeded in less than half of the given time. He didn't need all that extra time and he should know it already. Any extra day away from training was a day wasted. He was aware that he was almost two weeks early with delivering the scroll and could take a rest for a few days in a local village not too far from where he currently was. But he didn't want to waste another minute in the Land of Earth.

As he continued his way forward on the left side he could see the village appear in his line of vision. It wasn't one of those big villages with a lot of people and merchants roaming its streets, and what little he has heard about it is that the village's leader was a former ninja, who quit the dangerous life in exchange to live a peaceful life. But what caught his attention was the red that shone through the trees in the general direction of the village.

From his position on top of the branches he wasn't able to see properly what was going on there.

A loud yell alerted him that something was wrong and he stopped. The red in the village was moving and now that he had stopped he was able to see the tall smoke pillar making its way up high in the sky. Furrowing his brows, he jumped down on the ground, even though a small part of him wanted to ignore the whole village, but the distinctive smell of fire he could smell, every time he did one of his fire techniques, made him look closer.

Leaving the cover of the forest to an open field, he could identify the redness as flames. The close distance allowed him to hear the panicked yells of the villagers. He wasn't able to see what exactly was burning for the high wall surrounding the place. Jumping on top of the tall wall he got an unobstructed view of the biggest building, in the rather small village, on fire.

It appeared that the village leader didn't get as peaceful life as he wanted. Funny, how easily your past can explode right in front of your face leaving everything covered in dust.

One little boy run below him carrying a bucket of water towards the fire with two other villagers running closely behind him with buckets of their own. Another man yelled that their leader was still inside the burning house and needed to be rescued. Everything was in chaos as men and women ran around, some trying their best to extinguish the flames as others stood there doing nothing.

He unconsciously shook his head. There was no way anyone would survive from that destruction, ninja or not.

It was obviously an explosion that had caused the fire since the North side of the house was completely crumbled to the ground. And there was a distinctive smell in the air that screamed of ninjas' explosive tags. Looks like someone had a bone to pick with the leader. How ridiculously ignorant can some people be? Did he think he could take a position as high as a village leader and expect his enemies to back down? In what kind of a world did he think he lived in?

The ninja world was ruthless, and if you aren't strong enough than you're bound to die. This world is not for the weak. Only the strongest can survive as they strive forward with power and strength.

To be honest, the leader would need a miracle to survive that kind of a destruction. And he was sure that many other houses would too gain some damage as the flames spread.

There was a bunch of people running for the well to get more water as others tried in vain to stop the fire from spreading to the nearest houses. In a place like this that would be a catastrophe, for most of the houses were made of wood so, if allowed to roam free, the fire could easily destroy the entire village in a matter of couple of hours. However, the unity of this village was admirable to watch to some extent.

Without a further step in to the village he turned around and headed back the way he was meant to go. The fire wasn't his battle to fight. Everyone had their own fights during the course of life, and this wasn't his. His awaited him in the future.

In no time, he was jumping on the branches heading to the Sound. That moment had been enough of rest until he reached the base. His body had taken in the small break and recovered a small portion of his strength he needed to finish this small journey.

When he reached the start of the forest the blizzard only strengthened and soon it was hard to see even a couple of meters ahead. He had to slow down his pace and extend his awareness. It was harder to keep going but he didn't want to stop. And he still needed to remember that there might be someone after him. He stole an important scroll from a secret archive few miles away from Iwa, so it would be understandable that someone was following him even if the chances were low.

His mind concentrated on his quick steps and scanning the area when something flickered in the edge of the area he was able to sense. Something faint and almost extinct; a chakra. It flickered few times until he couldn't feel it anymore. Just in case, he stopped again to concentrate on the small flicker. But for a good moment he couldn't sense anything. Nothing made its presence known. It was disturbing and unnerving. For a moment, he thought that he had imagined the thing.

Then it came back again. He instantly snapped his head in its direction.

It felt familiar.

But he couldn't put his finger on it. The familiarity of it was only so small that he couldn't even be hundred per cent sure if he had known it before or sensed it. Maybe he had spotted it while traveling on missions? Or than it was just his imagination that was going crazy because of the exhaustion his body was feeling after traveling at such a fast pace without any breaks.

In no time, he was heading towards the chakra.

The snow continued to pour and block most of the view, as the yells of the small town grew more distant. The faster he moved, the harder it was to see, but he was determined to see what had intrigued his mind and senses. It wasn't at all like him to do this, however he had time. He could forgive himself a few minute stray from his original schedule and he was sure that no Iwa shinobi could catch up to him any time soon.

In no time, his eyes detected something moving far ahead in front of him. A figure that was swaying unsteadily from side to side, hunched low and occasionally stumbling only to support his body with his hands and continue onward. His brows scrunched low as he jumped last two branches before landing on one directly on top of the small figure.

His chakra continued flickering and he was sure that the person had to be injured. The way he held himself without any posture and the way he walked just screamed that everything was wrong and far from okay.

Small patches of snow fell on either side of the person from the impact he made when landing on the branch, but the person below didn't react and instead walked forward. It was like he hadn't even noticed the snow. There was snow covering the shoulders of the person's shredded cloak and as he moved forward he noticed the person was not wearing any shoes. Bare feet flopped in and out of view in the snow with unsteady steps and the way the lower legs looked like he was sure the person was a female.

"Ngh," she gurgled before falling on her knees, her entire body trembling.

With a graceful landing, he jumped off the tree and straight next to the girl. His hand reaching out, he grabbed the girls arm to pull her back on her feet and turn her to face him. The sight that greeted him made chills run down his back.

Under all that blood and cuts were a pair of familiar emerald eyes looking dully at nothing. The normal brightness and happiness he's associated with them was gone, and only emptiness remained. It was unnerving sight. Of course, the last time they saw each other, her eyes were filled with sorrow and desperation as she tried her hardest to stop him from leaving Konoha.

The muscle in her throat moved as she swallowed hard but it only brought more blood to her mouth that fell off the sides. The sight was gruesome. Her lips were cut open from more than two places and the blood that smeared her face also covered her eye, replacing the white of her eye with a deep red color. The drops of blood that continued to fall down her face and onto the snow left wet lines all over her face, and he couldn't help but think how badly exactly she was hurt.

At this point, even though he was so close to her, her chakra was nonexistent. There was no longer any kind of flicker making itself known and assure him that she was alive. The upper arm he was holding was so cold that she felt like a real walking corpse. There was no heat coming off her and even her struggled breathing didn't create any steam like his did.

The amount of blood covering her face and body that was showing under the ripped cloak and clothes was unrealistic. How is she even able to walk? Her face was pale as if she was a ghost and there was no recognition in her eyes, even though he stood right in front of her. Any normal person would have already had some sort of a reaction, but instead he got no reaction at all.

"Sakura." he tried saying her name, but it was like she never heard him. As if he hadn't said anything. The blood continued to pour from her mouth occasionally and the blood falling down her face had now completely covered her chest. Her clothes were wet from blood and glued against her skin. Well if you could even call those clothes. She had a pair of biker shorts that were hanging loosely around her legs and her red shirt was just barely covering her private parts.

Her body swayed unsteadily again making him hold tighter around her arm so she wouldn't fall. However, before she could fully regain even the little control of her own body her knees give under her. Falling awkwardly on the ground without any muscle resistant made him realize that she was no longer with him.

His fingers were even number than before. The way his fingers gripped tightly around her upper arm was making his fingers turn completely blue. The lack of warmth was surrealistic. He needed to do something.

* * *

The blizzard had given up a little and it wasn't blocking him from moving faster anymore. He could freely jump over the trees without having to spend so much chakra on his surroundings. No Iwa shinobi had made their presence known and he was sure they had lost him at some point.

The body he was carrying hadn't made any movement the past hour and he had a fleeting thought that she was dead. Her body didn't generate any heat and he wasn't entirely sure if he could detect the small movement of her chest as she breather or if he was imagining it.

His teeth clenched in annoyance for he couldn't believe he was helping her. He would already be much further away heading for Sound if he had left her out on the snow. She wasn't his responsibility and nonetheless he needed to cut all the bonds he had created to be able to succeed in his goal. Everybody back in Konoha were burden he needed to get rid of, one way or the other, and this definitely wasn't helping that goal.

Though he had to admit, it felt weird to be around Sakura after such a long time. He hadn't expected to crossing paths with her any time soon, and neither had he planned for it.

But instead of thinking what he should have done he decided on putting his full attention in reaching the next village. For a moment, he had thought of going back to the village in danger of being burned to ashes, but he doubted he could get a place in an inn easily since everyone was trying put out the fire. And if he remembered correctly there was an old woman living in another village that offered shelter for travelers. The only downside was that she was very reluctant when it came to shinobi, but he had to try for his body wasn't going to last for much longer since he had wrapped his cloak securely around Sakura's injured body to shelter her from most of the weather.

The fairly, thin shirt he was wearing, instead of his usual white shirt with an open front, was warmer but without a cloak to provide more protection he wasn't going to last long. The temperature was still freezing and he had still over an hour till he could reach the village. At this point he had to hope that the old lady would still remember him and let him stay the night.

He wasn't still sure what he was going to do to Sakura. He could leave her to the village for someone else to care of, but there was still the matter that the entire village wasn't very fond of shinobi. They tried their best to stay away from them and when someone passed thought their village everyone hoped they would leave as soon as possible.

Even he experienced the cold shoulder during his one night stays at the place, but as long as no one was in his way, it didn't bother him at all.

The sun hadn't even started to raise when Sasuke finally reached the gates of the small village. The guard watching over the gate was sitting casually on a chair inside a small wooden cover that had a glass window looking over the open gates. His hands were crossed over his chest when Sasuke stepped over to the village paying no attention to the glaring man.

The old woman's house was located near the town's center market and all the lights were out when he reached it. No one was out at the time of the day for it was still early morning, though it appeared to be more like midnight. The sun didn't come up until late in the morning like it normally did during winter, and he tried calculating in his head that it had to be around five or four in the morning.

Knocking on the door was hard for he still had to keep a hold of Sakura's body and his fingers were stinging from cold. He had to knock a few times with hard strikes on the wood before a light went on upstairs. A sound of floorboards creaking was louder by the minute and the door opened with another loud groan as an old woman dressed in a rope glared up at him.

The two head shorter woman scowled at him, "What do you want?" Her voice was hostile, and the recognition in her eyes soon turned to anger.

He didn't reply, instead held out his hands to direct her attention to the girl lying in his arms. Blood was seeping thought the cloak that was covering Sakura's face and body and the hand that was hanging freely was also covered in bruises. The old lady took a step back, shaking her head. It was obvious that even she could see how badly the young girl was injured.

"I'm not keeping a shinobi hospital here. Find some other place."

"There's no other place."

Wrinkled eyes peered suspiciously at him as her frown deepened.

"Fine," she backed away from the door but not before giving him a once over and taking in the ragged state he was in. His hair was wet from all the snow and his clothes were no difference.

He stepped inside the house as the old lady headed for the kitchen to the left shouting quietly at him to take the girl in the living room and on to the cot in the corner. As he took steps down the small hallway he amused in his head how different a trained shinobi was compared to a civilian. His steps didn't create any noise on the floorboard, whereas the elderly woman created noise even if she was just standing still.

Soon the woman appeared back next to him as he, as gently as humanly possible, laid Sakura's still body on the cot. The woman was instantly working to unwrap the girl from the black material and as soon as her eyes landed on the bruised and battered girl a hand flew to her mouth.

She turned her steel colored eyes on the boy standing next to her looking down at Sakura, "It will be a miracle if she survives, Sasuke-kun."

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_Wanna read more? Then leave a review and tell me what do you think!_

_\- Jakura_


	2. Chapter 2

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 2**

* * *

Sasuke had retreated to his room that the old lady had showed to him. She had brought a cup of tea and few pieces of bread for him to eat before going to bed. For a moment, she had fussed around him reminding him where the bathroom was, but not without telling him to not to over stay his welcome. She had even brought an excess cloak for him. He merely grunted at that and continued to get rid of his wet shirt, not even bothering to be civil around the woman, for last time they met he was way more under dressed.

It didn't take long for her to leave the room and leave Sasuke to his own devices. He quickly got in the shower not wasting too much time and only caring of having his blood flow properly for the prickling feeling in his fingers was getting annoying, and he wanted to get at least a few hours of sleep before heading back towards the Sound.

The squeaking of the floorboards on the other side of the door alerted Sasuke of the fact that someone had accompanied the old woman downstairs. He didn't even bother remembering her name (for what use did he have for it?), but he faintly remembered that she had a grandson living with her. They didn't provide a hospital in here, only a place for travelers to stay a few nights but taking Sakura to the village's hospital was out of the question since they didn't treat outsiders.

If the girl was to survive then this would have to do. He had no interest in find her a better place. He remembered that the lady had some experience in medical field and his grandson might have studied to become a nurse at some point. The two of them would have to do for her. She was not his responsibility. He had no interested in Sakura's welfare from now on and whatever the elder decided to do with her didn't concern him one bit. He was just grateful for the bed to sleep in and a shower to use before going to bed.

The shower had warmed his body and especially his fingers when he finally got to bed and fell asleep, but just before his mind was overcome by the fog of unconsciousness he was partially aware of the flickering of the weak chakra.

* * *

Grey light poured from the sole window of the small room. A light shatter of people walking past the building was the final straw for Sasuke to wake up. His body was relaxed on the bed as he second by second let everything come back to him. With a sigh, he got up and grabbed his now dry clothes from the small hanger in the room.

Glancing at the window he thought that it must be at least noon already if not even early evening.

Opening the door after grabbing the new cloak he was met with a sight of a young man walking down the hall towards him. The few years older boy stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of him and you could visibly see the blood drain from his face. The boy was holding a bucket of water and a few towels hanged from his arms while he stood awkwardly in the middle of the corridor.

The boy's steely grey eyes were wide and even too big for his skinny body. In a way, he looked comical for he seemed to be so uncomfortable with his own body that it almost bothered Sasuke. He had thin limbs that looked too long for the rest of his body, not to mention the fact that he was almost

Sasuke raised his eyebrow in question and the boy stuttered, his head lower to the floor.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry if I w-waked you u-up. I w-w-was just getting s-some towels f-for your friend."

"Hn." he pulled the door closed behind him and adjusting his kusanagi on the belt behind his back. The other boy looked baffled when he didn't say anything and continued his way down the corridor heading downstairs. With loud steps, he caught up to him the water swaying dangerously in the metal bucket.

"Aren't you interested whether or not she's okay?"

"No."

"N-no?!" he stopped in the stairs almost dropping the water bucket.

Sasuke turned the corner to the hallway downstairs and the old lady walked out of the kitchen at the same time. She didn't pay attention to him and just walked to the living room that Sasuke had taken Sakura when they had arrived.

"Kuro." came the old woman's strict voice and the boy scrambled his way pass Sasuke and after his grandmother.

Just out of bare boredom Sasuke stopped by the door of the living room leaning against the frame hands crossed over his chest as he too in the sight in front of him. He wasn't able to see Sakura at all for the two people were standing in front of her and covering all of her. The only part he could see were the soles of her feet that were tinted blue and covered in blood here and there.

Kuro had placed the bucket on the table next to the cot and dipped one of the towels in. Soon he was holding a limp arm in his hand and gently brushing the fabric to clean the skin from all the blood. The old woman started doing the same except on her legs.

"So when are you two leaving?" her voice piqued as she concentrated on the task at hand. She was obviously meaning him and Sakura.

"Not we, just me."

The woman's movements stopped as she turned around to look at him.

"Just you?" her brows were crunched together deepening the wrinkles on her face, "Isn't she your friend? Your responsibility?"

"No."

"Then what are we supposed to do to her?" her jaw was tense and the annoyance was clear as day on her face.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly. Then a loud knock on the front door pulled the woman's annoyed eyes away from Sasuke, as she threw the towel on the table before heading towards the front door.

She opened the door and a brown haired teenage girl was standing there brushing snow off her jacket.

"I bought the supplies you asked for, Anoka-sama." her voice was high and bright when she offered a huge brown back to the elder.

"Thank you, Nea. I'll bring some kenchinjiru for you and your mother later."

"It's okay, we're just glad to help." she smiled happily swaying on her feet.

"Can I serve you some tea then?" Anoka continued to insist and backed away from the door to let the girl in, "Okay, but then I really have to go. I still need to help grandpa to clean the attic."

"I won't hold you for long." she closed the door and disappeared into the kitchen. A sound of metal clinging indicated that she had taken a tea pot and was filling it with water.

The girl - Nea - finally realized that Sasuke was standing in the hallway with her and curiosity filled her eyes as she took in the impressive sight of the young Uchiha. First her eyes looked unsure with a light blush on her cheeks, before she completely turned her face away, her cheeks red as tomatoes.

"What about you, young man?" Anako returned to the hall looking expectant, "Do you want some?"

Sasuke just nodded, not bothering with words and she retreated into the small kitchen, while the girl standing next to the door started to look uncomfortable.

"So, for what did you need so many medical supplies?" she asked pulling her mittens off and taking steps towards the kitchen doorway.

"Look in the living room." came a simple reply from Anako, and the girl complied.

"Oh my!" the girl looked shocked at the sight of the bruised and broken girl.

"Is she even alive?" Nea she asked Kuro and carefully walked closer as if she could break something by going too fast. The boy was now cleaning Sakura's upper arm and still covering her upper body and face from Sasuke's eyes.

"Barely." he replied not once taking his eyes away from the task.

"I can't even see her chest moving." she said her voice barely audible for Sasuke to hear.

Sasuke could still feel the faint chakra Sakura's body created. It was as weak as it was last night and he didn't doubt the fact that she might die. There was no certain possibility that she would survive, because the amount of injuries Sasuke saw on her was extensive. He would be lying if he said that she would recover fully without any consequences. At one point, he could have sworn that she had died in his arms.

Suddenly the girl turned to Sasuke, "What happened to her?"

He looked at her impassively not showing any signs of telling her anything making the girl looking at him look confused.

"If she's your friend then-"

"She's not my friend. I found her from the forest."

"And still you decided to bring her here." the old woman butted in to the conversation while carrying a tray. "Sometimes I can't understand your actions."

He went to pick his tea and as he reached the table he had a perfect view of Sakura. His body stopped moving as his eyes laid on the bruised girl laying completely still. She was still covered in blood, but you could see the huge gash on the right side of her face just next to the hair line. And her lips were cracked open and swollen and burned just like the lower part of her right cheek. The whole right side of her face was swollen and looked disfigured.

That was the only thing he could see along with her right arm and leg, otherwise she was covered with a brown cover. The sight was much gruesome than last night. His hand tightened into a fist involuntarily and he turned his attention back to picking the mug up.

"She looks really pretty." the girl suddenly said taking a sip from her tea.

* * *

I wasn't long after Sasuke had drank his tea he finally left. He was well rested and ready to take the scroll to Orochimaru so that he can continue his training. He's already wasted too many hours so he had decided to just head straight back to the Sound without any stops. Kuro had tried to turn his head around and wait for the injured girl to wake up before leaving but Sakura wasn't his responsibility any longer.

All three tried prying her name but Sasuke figured it wasn't his position to tell so he bluntly ignored the questions. Nea's face was beet red because, apparently, he was too ignorant and she ignored him for the rest of his stay and stayed by Kuro helping to clean Sakura. But none of that bothered him one bit.

The only thing that bothered him in Sakura's situation was that why was she wondering around the forest alone? It wasn't normal for a young kunoichi to do missions alone especially if the kunoichi was from Konoha,. Konoha valued teamwork more than anything, so where were Sakura's teammates? Had something happened to them that had caused them to die when Sakura just barely lived through the experience?

Everything so far was odd and confusing. Sasuke wasn't completely sure what to made of this situation, but somehow he had a feeling that there was something bigger going on. However, it didn't concern him any more since he's no longer a citizen of the Hidden Leaf Village. The best for his situation right now was to completely detach himself of everything that happened in the past twenty-four hours and focus on his training.

It wasn't an easy task to leave the old lady's house since she was appalled with the fact that he wasn't taking Sakura with him. She had glared at him and even gave a small rant concerning priorities, but he zoned her out. He wasn't going to get any more involved with his former teammate's life than he already had.

The old lady Anako looked sour when Sasuke finally took his leave, for she was left to care for the half-dead girl, but she wasn't his problem anymore and he couldn't let her to distract him. He's got more important things to do and if he wants to get rid of all his bonds than he would have to start somewhere and this is the time for that.

His legs continued to move him forward with a quick pace and for a moment he was glad that the storm had calmed down during the night he had spent resting. It was now much easier to move and see forward as the sun shone through the clouds as a small wind blew through the forest every once in a while. But, even though the storm had ended it didn't mean the weather was any less cold. It might even have been colder than the night before because of the current clear weather.

Sasuke's cheeks were red and prickling when he finally reached the border of the Sound, and he instinctively slowed his pace. He didn't need to hurry for the hideout wasn't too long away only mere few minutes until he reached the hidden opening. A rocky snake statue flashed on his right marking the place and he landed on the ground to receive a full view of the tunnel leading underground with double doors locking the place few meters inside the caves opening.

It took him a whole day to reach back the hideout, and Ororchimaru looked pleased as ever when he threw the scroll on his lap not bothering to walk too closer.

"You were faster than before, Sasuke-kun." he rubbed his chin with a grin on his face.

"Maybe we should make you train harder? What do you say?"

"I want to start as soon as possible."

"Impatient are we." Orochimaru's eyes ventured down Sasuke's body landing on his sleeve. "Are you injured?" He crocked his eyebrow in amusement. It wasn't like Sasuke to get injured easily, for Orochimaru could openly admit that he's not seen anyone with such talent as the young Uchiha standing in front of him. Even the way he hides every emotion seemed extraordinary.

He couldn't wait to get his hands on his young and ripe body. His current one was getting weaker and weaker every day and time was running out. However, he was still unable to perform the jutsu to transfer bodies. It would still take a few months but then he wouldn't waste any time. Sasuke was already well trained and every session they continued to have were increasing his powers.

Of course, if Sasuke decided to fight against the body switch he would have to use force, but luckily Orochimaru's been slowly down Sasuke training. He doesn't want anything to go wrong when the time comes to claim Sasuke's body.

"It's not mine," Sasuke answered sparing a small look at the spot of blood. He had come straight to Orochimaru when he arrived at the hideout. He hadn't check on his clothes at all so he hadn't noticed that Sakura's blood was covering them. It didn't bother him much since clothes were easily rid of and it was just blood.

A curious look flashed across Orochimaru's face, "It's not like you to dirt yourself with the blood of others."

"Accidents happen."

The long-haired male smiled a lopsided grin and shook his head seemingly content with Sasuke's answer.

A light knock on the door alerted both men and Kabuto walked in giving a nod to Sasuke before walking to his master.

"Orochimaru-sama," he bowed and offered a stack of papers to Orochimaru, who gladly took them.

"Sasuke-kun, I'll see you in the training room in fifteen minutes." Orochimaru said with a grin and Sasuke took his leave. He didn't even bow in front of him, for her wasn't one for formalities, especially with the man that was currently teaching him.

* * *

Tsunade was tapping his fingers on the table impatiently. The three-member crew she had sent on a mission almost two weeks ago was still yet to return, even though their mission was a C-rank mission. They were supposed to go to the Land of Earth and give medical supplies to a small town near the border. It wasn't nothing dangerous for no ANBU had detected anything suspicious in the area.

It was supposed to be an easy mission considering she sent Sakura there with two experienced chūnin. The mission was supposed to take a mere few days for they were meant to drop the supplies to their local medical center and then leave the area to return to Konoha. However, no one in their three-man team had returned and neither had any message come to inform their situation.

This was very unusual since it was a protocol to inform the Hokage if a mission took the minimum of two days longer than originally anticipated. And the message should have arrived already for it's been over three days.

She was getting more anxious because Sakura was one to follow orders. She was her student and always made sure to do her best in every situation. It wasn't like her to ignore the normal procedures like this.

The nagging sound in her head increased and finally she snapped yelling loudly, "Shizune!"

She yelled so loudly that her own voice ringed in her ears for a moment as the room settled back into its silent state. It was almost an eerie feeling for there was only complete darkness behind her in the village.

The said woman run into the room after a moment leaning against her knees while trying to regain her breath.

"Y-you called me, Tsunade-sama?" she panted heavily looking tired. There's been so much paper work the past week that Tsunade's been sharing her load with Shizune causing both of them, to not to sleep almost at all, and the Sakura situation was also another stress factor. The Hokage was sure that she too had bag under her eyes, similar with the woman's. However cosmetic problems were least of her worries.

"Is something wrong?"

"Call team 8 here, right now."

Shizune looked baffled, and Tsunade didn't even wonder why for it was already almost midnight, "Why do you want to call them at this hour? Can't it wait till morning?"

"Absolutely not. I need a team to go look for Sakura's team, right now, and team 8 is our best chance since they specialize in tracking."

"So there still hasn't come any word from her group." the brunette looked worried her brows furrowed.

"No, and it's already been three days, so the only and best thing to do right now is to send another team to the Earth Country to look for them. This is very unusual for Sakura's team consisted of two highly talented ninjas, Nigaro Yuu and Dani Reina. And Nigaro is famous for his water techniques, so I'm sure they've ran into trouble."

"I'll send someone for Hyūga Hinta, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba right away." Shizune said while quickly making her way out of the door and not even focusing enough to close it. Tsunade sighed in annoyance, but what can you do if you're the one making her sleep too little nowadays. She rubbed her temple for a few times allowing shooting chakra to calm down the small headache making its way to the surface. She didn't have time for petty things like aches, she needed to put all her effort in finding the supply team.

After a moment, Shizune came back in to the office holding a book in her arms. She squeezed the hard covers while looking troubled. Tsunade was about to confront her about it but Shizune was faster, "I have a really bad feeling."

Tsunade's features softened with sympathy, "Me too."

* * *

Anako was sitting on her couch in the living room with Kuro sound asleep next to her. She was sipping her tea that she had made for her and her grandson not too long ago to relieve the tension in both of their bodies. It has been exhausting few days and she doubted it would chance for a while, for the moment that Sasuke had returned to their small village everything had taken a turn to a hectic whirlpool.

Sustaining the girls' vitals was a hard task since she was growing a little weaker by the hours and there haven't been any signs of her waking up or even getting stronger at all. Anako would be lying if she said she wasn't worried for her because indeed she was. It was just her nature to seem aloof of everything around her especially when it came to people from the Hidden Villages. But she had a good reason to. Her husband was killed in a fight between a group of ninjas ten years ago. He was an innocent bystander and had nothing to do with the fight, but he was very unlucky for he was in a way of one of the ninja's jutsu which caused him to die.

Not many people in the village are ready to welcome shinobi with open arms for many have experienced loss because of them. However, there are few that are ready to help anyone they can. Unfortunately, Anako was the only reliable person Sasuke knew when he had headed for the village Sakura half dead in his arms. It was a shame since now Anako and Kuro were to take care of her.

Anako rubbed her head in frustration. She thought she had made it clear for the boy not to come back again when they had first departed. She wanted as little as possible to do with people like him, but something just seems to pull people like him to her. Only a week ago another shinobi had needed a place to stay and he had come for her for shelter. It was funny how against she was everyone and everything and still she allowed them in.

She was getting softer, as the years went by. She could easily recall how she had cursed and yelled at every ninja coming her way the first few years after her husband had died. It was easy back then, but she guessed everything got easier when she found out that the person behind her husband's death had died in battle. It gave her a feeling of satisfaction that soon numbed into indifference.

That was the turning moment when he only thought of ninjas as a small annoyance. Like a bee that was constantly buzzing around your ear and driving you nuts.

A sudden gurgling noise roused her from her thoughts drawing her attention to the girl laying on the cot. Quickly she placed the cup on the coffee table in front of her and slowly got up. Her back was hurting more and more every year and no wonder since she was already about 80 years old. Rubbing her back, she made her way to the girl.

The girl's chest was moving a little more and the muscles in her throat were constricting, for a moment it looked like she was suffocating on something, but then a cough like sound gave from her throat and a blood coagulate fell out of her mouth leaving another trail of blood on the side of her mouth.

Anako quickly grabbed a towel and soaked it in water to clean off the blood from her face. The touch of the towel on the side of Sakura's face caused her body to flinch under the unfamiliar feeling. The older woman almost jumped off her skin because she wasn't expecting any kind of reaction. Her heart was racing in her chest as she took deep breaths to control her breathing.

She closed her eyes thinking that this was a good sign. She showed some signs of waking up and gaining strength. It was already five days ago when Sasuke left the village, and this is the first good thing in those five dreadful days. They were going low on medical supplies for they had to change her bandages at least two times a day. Kuro had to go ask around the village of anyone had any supplies to spare. Luckily a couple townsfolk gave some of their own.

It was a battle against death but it seemed for now that they were winning.

* * *

_So what do you think so far? Is it good and worth reading? I would really like your thoughts on this and by the way I don't own Naruto. Just a small disclaimer._

_Also wanted to remind everyone to go check my profile every once in a while for I have this weekly news thing going on, so that you're able to know what's going on._

_Thanks for reviewers:_

Meemy-Chan

ElevatedJewel

AmyKpd

vero1092

_Huge thanks also for everyone who have followed and favorited story. It means a lot to me._

_\- Jakura_


	3. Chapter 3

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 3**

* * *

It took another week before the girl started showing more signs of getting better. She had made small movements and Anako and her grandson Kuro had both chatted to her, even though they knew she wasn't going to answer. It became a habit of sorts that they used to introduce the new place for her. Of course, there was a chance that she could hear them but it was only a slight possibility. The most likely of situation was that she was only moving because of muscle reflexes but they decided to still chat with her.

Normally when they would change her bandages they would talk her through it, telling her what they were doing and what they were about to do. However, they never got any reaction out of her except small movements of her fingers and sometimes other muscles constricting. It was a game of waiting they had to do and more importantly they had to be patient.

Anako hadn't taken care of anyone this severely injured before so she didn't know what to expect. To her shame, she had to admit that Kuro was much more comfortable and daring when moving Sakura and he had no trouble to do things to her, whereas Anako was sometimes a little reluctant for she had no idea how much you could move an injured person.

Taking care of bad wounds and broken legs and arms were her thing but this was out of her league. Fortunately, none of this stopped her from trying to help the poor girl. She wasn't in debt to Sasuke so that wasn't the case. It was all her. It was fully her own decision. It was obvious that Sakura was suffering and taking care of her was the best course, otherwise she would die.

But as the week passed, Kuro came running into the kitchen his face pale as if he had seen a ghost.

"What is it?" Anako was making dinner for them and was currently stirring the soup.

"She opened her eyes!"

The spoon in her hand fell loudly on the hardwood floor as she sprinted past Kuro and into the living room. And Kura was right. Her eyes were open... well an eye since her other eye was covered with a bandage. Her eye was moving and taking in her surroundings. She obviously was assessing the place. Anako quickly made her way to the girl and leaned over her.

Sakura's eyes landed on the older woman and her breathing hitched.

"Calm down, calm down." Anako soothed and touched her unharmed cheek softly.

The touch seemed to have an effect for her body relaxed on the cot. Her eye locked with Anako and mouth opened to say something but nothing came out. The only thing that passed was a raspy groan that caused her to cough her lungs out. Anako couldn't do nothing but hold her shoulders as she coughed and couched. Dried blood dropped on the cot and floor.

Kato was back with a glass of water.

"Here." he gave the glass to his grandmother and she helped Sakura to drink it with small sips.

"Your throat is still healing, so you shouldn't talk." Anako scolded her and helped her back on her back.

Sakura looked tired and her brow was furrowed as she glanced down at her body. From her lying position with a cover over her she couldn't see properly what was going on with her body. But she would be fool is she thought that everything was fine. The fact that she had coughed out dried blood meant that she has had a serious wound to her throat, and who knows what was under the cover.

Her chakra was low, too low and with the amount in her body she couldn't make sure that everything was in place. She had so little chakra that it was barely keeping her alive, and that she could feel. She had perfect chakra control and she would know if her body was in its limits.

At this point, all she can feel is pain all over her body along with her chakra. The pain was distracting and she was having hard time making sure that she was in a safe place. The woman's voice had calmed her down but it was unfamiliar, and she had no recollection how she had ended up where she was. Her head started to throb even more as she tried to recall everything that had happened before she had clearly passed out. But all her attempts were to no avail.

The pain was just too much and she wanted to fall back into the silent and painless darkness that had surrounded her not too long ago.

"You should rest some more." Kuro said from next to Anako.

Sakura shook her head and looked around the room again. She couldn't pinpoint any of the furniture, everything was so blurry and she could distinct the shape of the two people in front of her and the color of blood on the cot. Everything was to disorientating but a small part of her didn't want to fall asleep, even if it helped with the pain. That would mean giving into her surroundings and whatever might cause harm for her.

Anako whispered something to Kuro who nodded and left the room only to return. He was holding needle filled with clear liquid. Anako gave him more space by stepping aside and Kuro moved the cover so that he could see Sakura's arm.

Sakura's pulse hitched again and she looked to be panicking for a second.

"This is just going to ease your pain." he reassured while he wrapped a piece of cloth around her bicep. As he tightened the string Sakura whimpered in pain and Kuro tapped her arm to see a vein better. He continued to clean the spot and soon he applied the needle into her vein.

It didn't take a while for her eyes to roll over as she fell asleep.

* * *

Team 8 was sent to look for Sakura a week ago. They had send regular updates and so far, they hadn't found nothing that might give them any clue as of where she was. Tsunade was getting frustrated and more impatient. She had sent Hinata, Shino and Kiba with Akamaru to the location she had sent Sakura on a mission and they had scouted the area thoroughly.

They also had scouted the small village in which Sakura's mission had mainly taken a place. The place was too hectic to get any information for it seemed that their leader was killed in an accident. No one was keen on helping the three ninjas looking for their friend because they were too focused on taking care of the village and making sure nothing went wrong.

The whole village was in chaos and it seemed that there wasn't anyone capable enough to lead them through their hard times.

Team 8 had to admit that the destruction caused by the fire that had spread in a wide area seemed odd, but as they did their own small investigation nothing surfaced that might interest them. They were able to get a little help from a doctor from the village's medical center and he was able to tell them that they had received the medical supplies brought to them.

It was a relief that at least one thing had been accomplished but the doctor couldn't tell anything else except confirm that he had seen a group of three ninjas few weeks ago, who had brought the supplies. He was able to tell that one of them had a pink hair but the exchange had been quick because the group seemed to be in a hurry and wearing cloaks.

But that was over two weeks ago.

Something was terribly wrong and Tsunade's hopes of finding Sakura were diminishing. All kinds of theories that might have cause the supply team to disappear run through her mind until finally they got something.

It happened when team 8 was returning to Konoha when they noticed an old cabin in the forest that had a small patch of light coming through the windows. Hinata had used her byakugan and detected two ninjas resting inside. After further investigation, they found the two missing chūnins from Sakura's team. Them both were gravely injured and the younger male had serious internal bleeding.

A message was sent to the Hogake and soon a group of medical ninjas arrived to take them to Konoha.

Tsunade had met with the two men instantly when they were in better shape but all she could get out of them was that they were attacked by an anonymous rogue. They hadn't seen his face but they were both certain it was a male. The most heartbreaking news was that according to them, Sakura was dead.

They did their best to fight back which only lead to their severe injuries. Sakura tried her best to tell them to flee the scene but neither had listened. Eventually they had to flee after seeing their youngest teammate being plummeted to death. It was the only way to get the information of the rogue back to Konoha.

After all that information Tsunade sent another team to look at the place in the forest and it soon became clear that it was very likely that Sakura had died, according to the team. They found a vast destructed area full of signs of a vigorous battle.

Now the fifth Hokage was sitting in his office with Shizune by her side and Kakashi standing before her desk. Even the former leader of the team 7 couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Did they find her body?" Kakashi asked.

"No, but the battle site was full of blood and ashes which could only mean that she was burned to death." Tsunade sighed with exhaustion. She had the headache of the century and sleeping was out of the options. She couldn't even closer her eyes for ten minutes or even for a small nap without instantly getting bothered with everything.

The idea that Sakura was gone just didn't fit her mind, even though every evidence they had so far were leading them to the conclusion that she was dead.

"Sakura wouldn't go down without a fight." Kakashi replied putting his other hand in his pocket.

"I know, but there's no evidence of her body anywhere and team 8 looked around every village. There's no signs of her."

"Then let me go."

"No, absolutely not. We don't want any other good shinobi to die in the hands of this rogue."

"We need more proof. She could be somewhere trying to tend her own injuries waiting for help. We can't just expect her to be dead. What about Naruto? If we don't find at least her body than when he comes back he will, and you know it."

"I know, I know. But I've already send two teams and no one has found her."

"Let's look around a bigger area."

"Fine. I'll send you with team 8 again and team Guy. You'll scout the area around the battlefield and a little further, whereas team Guy searches the main area and its surroundings. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"I want every village searched and every single rock turned."

* * *

Sakura was sitting with her back supported on pillows. It was the first time she wwas able to be upright and it felt good. Her back was starting to hurt from laying down so much, but she didn't have any choice. Her two ribs that were broken were still healing and any extra movement cause pain all over her body. But the small moment being upright was a relief.

She felt dizzy when Kuro had first helped her to sit but the feeling had soon dispersed and she was feeling more comfortable. Anako had pulled the curtains aside from the other side of the room so that she was able to what was going on in the village. People were walking left and right, and even though she didn't know any of them it brought a sense of calmness to her to be able to what was going outside the house's walls.

She felt grateful towards the grandmother and grandson, however she was still unable to from words. She was barely even able to eat soup that was made for her.

The thing that bothered her the most was that she couldn't get in touch with her chakra. She was aware that it was unusually low but to not even be able to affect the flow of it was disturbing. In a way, it was as if her chakra flow was on the level of an average commoner.

"Here." Kuro appeared next to her and offered a cup to her.

She sipped the water gently while holding the cup in her better hand. Her entire right hand was wrapped in gauze along with the right side of her face. When Kuro had first introduced himself to her he had offered to bring a mirror for her to see the extent of her facial injuries, however Sakura didn't want to see. She knew she looked gruesome and it would take a while for the burns to heal, but it was for the best if she didn't see herself.

The feeling of helplessness was already consuming her so she didn't need any more evidence that she was incapable of taking care of herself.

A loud knock on the door almost caused Sakura to lose her hold on the water in her hands. She splashed some of the water on herself and Kuro immediately made himself busy by drying her off while Anako yelled from the kitchen that she was going to open the door. Huffing so loud came from the foyer that Sakura for a moment though that the person was having a heart attack.

"A group of shinobi are scouting through the village." girl's voice replied while gasping for air.

"What are they scouting for?" Anako's annoyed voice asked.

"They didn't say. Mom asked about it when they arrived at the gates but they merely said to mind our own business and act as if they weren't here. Nonetheless they were polite. But it's obvious they're looking for something."

"Thank you, Nea for telling."

"I was just thinking that maybe they are looking for the girl you're helping. She does seem like a ninja so it would only make sense."

"Come inside, Nee, we can ask out visitor." The door closer and the two women walked into the living room.

A bright smile spread on the younger girl's face as she saw Sakura, "Oh, my! You're sitting already!" She seemed excited by the fact and walked to Sakura' bed side, "My name's Nea. Who are you?"

"She can't talk yet." Kuro interrupted Nea and took the now empty cup from Sakura.

"Huh?"

"She has burns in her throat that make making sounds difficult."

"Oh.. poor girl." she turned to Anako, "So you don't know her name yet?"

"No, we don't."

"Weird that the guy who brought her in didn't say anything concerning her." Nea said more to herself than anybody else, while tapping her forefinger on her chin.

But her words made Sakura's back straighten as she glanced between all the three people in the room. She became instantly intrigued to know who had brought her to this combo of grandmother and grandson. Not once has either of them mentioned anything involving that event and since she can't talk asking about it is out of the question.

Nea seemed to notice the change in Sakura and faced back towards her, "Oh yeah! That cute but gloomy guy. What was his name?" She asked from Anako.

"I'm not going to invade anyone's privacy." the older woman coolly replied crouched on the floor to pick a hair off it.

"How's that invading anyone's privacy?"

"That guy is very secretive to begin with so unless he himself comes here than I'm not going to continue this conversation."

Nea crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, "You just don't like to gossip."

"Back to the original reason you came here." Kuro interrupted again seemingly aware that Nea might do something stupid before she thinks anything through. "What did the shinobi look like?"

"Well there were two teenage boys, one with sunglasses and the other had these red triangle marks on his face. And then there was one girl with dark blue hair and then an older man that had a mask covering the lower part of his face. And a dog."

Anako looked to Sakura, "Do they sound familiar?"

Carefully Sakura shook her head in denial.

"Pity." Nea replied her head down. "But I have to go."

"Say hello to your mother from me." Anako said and escorted the girl to the front door.

The older woman returned into the living room and leaned against the door frame. She squinted at Sakura with a frown on her face, "I'm going to hide you for now, but if things get ugly with these people then I'm going to call you in." With that said she left to go upstairs.

Kuro looked baffled and turned to Sakura, "You know those ninjas?"

Sakura's eyes slowly found Kuro's and she nodded.

"Then why don't you want to be found?"

With a bittersweet smile on her face she shook her head again.

_Now wasn't the right time._

* * *

Sasuke had just returned from a training session. Orochimaru has been busy with other work for the past week and haven't been personally able to watch over Sasuke's training. Not that he needed someone to constantly watch over his training, but it has started to feel like the older man couldn't even teach him anything. All their training session were the same with slightly different situations or enemies.

It was only natural that he was getting suspicious of his ability to teach him any new techniques.

His kusanagi was leaning against the bed as he rid himself of his shirt. Two knocks echoed in the otherwise empty room and the door opened without him even allowing anyone to enter. But he already knew who was coming.

"What is it?" he drawled with annoyed tone.

Kabuto's amused chuckle filled the room and the gray haired main hummed to himself.

"Orochimaru-sama wants to send you on a small errand for him."

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at him.

"Near the border of the Earth Country there is a small village, and a very known merchant is going to pass through it in the next three weeks. And that merchant has some very valuable information that Orochimaru-sama needs."

With a grin on his face, he continued, "You have to execute a small stake out. We don't know for sure when he is going to appear but it's in the next three weeks."

* * *

_You do know that Sasuke's mission means, right? At least I do of course... but do you?_

_Sorry for the late update. I'm really late for all of my updates because my summer job is literally sucking all the energy out of me._

_Thanks for reviewers:_

AprilRich

Tried To Walk

Meemy-Chan

suvi

vero1092

Strawberrys000

_and one _guest_._

_Also I really apologize for all the grammatical errors. I'm not a native speaker of English so those are inevitable, so I hope they don't bother you. I'm doing the best I can to beta read these chapters for myself, but unfortunately I'm not bale to notice every mistake. However, I'll do my best every time I write._

_\- Jakura_


	4. Chapter 4

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 4**

* * *

Sakura's backside had a habit of getting numb from time to time these days. She was still unable to walk or do much anything except follow the village live its life through the window. The bed was her kingdom and her life literally circled around it; she slept on it, she sat on it and she ate on it. She was even washed on it and doing her other private need were also full-filled on it with the help of Anako.

It was gross but it was exactly same thing she had to do to her patient back in Konoha's hospital. She didn't whine or make another sound. It was not that she didn't want to seem weak, but rather because her throat was still recovering. To some extent it was frustrating but she had no other choice.

And the presence of the Konoha shinobis was taking its toll on Sakura. She needed to make sure nothing would reveal that she was in the village because if they happened to find her, she was sure she would be dead the moment she crossed Konoha's gates. It was unnerving for she couldn't do much and needed to rely on Anako and his grandson. And the girl Nea. She was a whole another liked to talk but so far she had not come up with the idea that Sakura might know the ninjas.

Sakura had a feeling that Anako and Kuro were two people she could trust in, but as a kunoichi she needed to keep her head leveled. She couldn't afford trusting in those two too much since she had only known them, for a short period of time. And she still didn't know how she had ended up with them. Well she knew that someone had brought her but Anako was very careful of her words when around her. Sakura had a feeling that she tried to protect that man's identity, and it was getting annoying.

She just wanted to know more of what had happened, but as long as she was unable to speak, it's out of the question. Of course, she knew what happened to her before she had passed out into the snow, but everything after that was somewhere deep in her consciousness. Somewhere so deep that she can't reach.

Deep in thought Sakura snapped back to attention when Hinata's dark blue hair passed by the window. It was the third time she had seen someone from Konoha and every single time her had lifted to touch her short hair. She still felt so naked, as if someone could easily recognize her even though they can't identify her by using her hair since Anako had helped her to dye it. The familiar pink locks were now deep brown and messy looking.

It was Anako's idea to dye it if the people from Konoha suddenly decided to barge into the homes of the villagers. Sakura didn't protest and instead approved of the idea. Everything that helps to keep her hidden she would approve of. Luckily her chakra was still too damaged and low to anyone to notice or even sense. That was another way for them to not to notice her yet.

The idea to dye her hair was still odd. She was so used to her trademark hair that it was almost unnatural to be without it. When she turned her head to the side, or looked down, instead of seeing pink hair she sees brown, and every time it startles her for a moment. Anako, who follows her like a hawk noticed this and murmured to her, "You'll get used to it, dear."

And that's the other odd thing. She had started calling her 'dear'. Her mother used to sometimes call her 'dear' or 'honey', but hearing it from someone else's mouth was plain odd. While she was still in training under Tsunade, the older woman whom looked up to, never called her with pet names. It was always just Sakura.

But she had to admit, seeing Hinata brought a sense of longing. She wanted to return to Konoha, but it would be impossible right now. Nothing would be the same from here on out. Nothing hasn't been the same since the accepted the mission to deliver the supplies.

The small amount of chakra she has, that both keeps her alive and able to have some sense of her surrounding however seems to bring her mood down even more. She could sense the familiar chakra of Kakashi's. She could recognize that chakra anywhere and in any condition. She knows it like her own hands. It familiar and comforting but also saddening.

They haven't seen each other in a while, and truthfully speaking she doesn't have any idea how long it's been since they last saw each other. Even if Kakashi's hasn't been her teacher for two years, she still sees him as one. He's like her uncle for he has often watched her train with Tsunade, and afterwards when she's been so exhausted that she could barely even keep her eyes open, he would take her home.

Naruto and Kakashi are her second family that she will never forget. And they are another reason why she will return to Konoha after everything is settled. There's Sasuke. She needs to get back to Konoha and help Naruto bring him back. During these two years since Naruto's been gone no one has heard anything of the younger Uchiha brother.

Often during missions, Sakura had tried to gather some information about his location. Anything involving Orochimaru she has tried to dig up during those times but every time she's come up empty handed. It was frustrating because she knew that if Naruto was doing the same thing as her, he would have already found something. Unfortunately, she wasn't as lucky as Naruto.

Sighing deeply Sakura closed her eyes and tried to bring some relief to her aching muscles and head. Kuro had just barely an hour ago given her tea that should ease some pain and relax muscles but so far it wasn't doing anything. She wanted to fall back asleep, but as long as her head hurt the way it did and she couldn't use her chakra, it was only a dream so far.

* * *

The next day Kakashi, Hinata and everyone left. According to Anako, they had come knocking on the door but Anako had apologize and said that she's unable to help them. It seemed that it was a positive thing that Sasuke came concealed by the night than in full day light. Sakura felt slightly easier for she was asleep when they came. She might have even cracked the moment she heard their voices because that was how much she missed them.

Of course, Nea had started to become more interested about Sakura and who she is since she had seen the photo Hinata and Kiba had shown everyone in the village. Luckily instead of saying it straight to them that she knew of her whereabouts she had ran to Anako's and demanded to know what was going on. She looked freaked out as she glanced between Sakura and the front door that inconveniently was still open.

Ananko had rushed and locked the door right away, and pulled Nea to the living room where Sakura had been then laying on her back, observing the situation. Her heart beat had increased for the adrenaline started to pump through her body. For that split second she thought she might get exposed. That she would reveal her to them.

Like a grandmother Ananko instantly started to scold the young teenager for shoving her nose into other people's business.

"But they are looking for her!" Nea protested.

"It's her choice, and you're not going to tell anybody about her."

"But they even know her name! It's Sakura! Their team leader looked heart broken when he spoke of her." she explained with her hands and was almost going to kick a table down.

"I don't care what he looks like or how sad he is. We need to respect her," she pointed at Sakura, "decision. If she wants to stay hidden than she stays hidden."

"But-"

"No buts!"

Nea pouted and crossed her hands over her chest. She looked puffed for she wasn't a big sized girl and the winter coat she was wearing was huge. With her cheeks puffed she looked like a character from a kids' show. If Sakura hadn't been tired she would have smiled or even tried to laugh to some extent.

"Well at least we know her name." the girl grumbled and walked over to the couch and flopped on it with a loud thud. Kuro came in at that moment, "Whose name?"

Anako's head tilted to Sakura's direction.

"Hers."

Kuro's brows lifted in surprise. "What? How?"

"The Konoha shinobi in the village are looking for her." Anako said before Nea could say anything and create a bigger mess.

"Then we need to tell them about her! They can help her and even bring her home."

"No." Anako's strict voice startled even her own grandson, who almost dropped the tray he was holding. It was almost time for Sakura's meal and he had prepared some soup for her.

"Why not?"

"Because this is how she wants it, and I'm not going to even discuss this topic with the two of you. So keep your mouths shut and ignore even the slightest of temptation of telling her location, because I know it's either of you who told about her." the older woman's voice was final and she grabbed the tray from Kuro's hand, only to place it on the small table next to Sakura's cot. Kuro tried to protest of her actions but when the older lady began helping Sakura to sit up he left the room.

After that Nea had only given Sakura sad looks and moved around the room restlessly before she left to have dinner with her mother. To some extent Sakura felt bad for putting such a load on the girl's shoulders. She became one of the people who would carry Sakura's problems on her shoulders just like many others in Konoha. It just isn't right, but for now Sakura is unable to do anything.

Right now, Anako was cleaning Sakura's wounds that covered her face with a soft fabric. The cuts were healing nicely and Sakura's eye had opened up couple of inches, allowing her to see some light.

Anako had taken a small flashlight and flashed Sakura's right eye to see the eye under all the bruising and blood better, and to check if there was any vision yet. When she had asked, whether or not Sakura could see anything with it Sakura merely shook her head in denial. The only thing she could see was a brighter light but so far nothing else.

Getting annoyed and to rile herself up wasn't going to do any good to her and she knew it well. All she could do was rest and let her body recover on its own. But she is so used to healing herself and taking care of her own injuries that it was odd not to.

It was almost ten o'clock at night and another storm had begun few hours ago. Fortunately, it wasn't anything like the storm Sakura was found in but it was a storm nonetheless. Kuro had left to ask for more dressings and bandages for Sakura a couple of hours ago since they were again low on the supply. Sakura's wounds still needed to be taken care of every morning and night.

The calm atmosphere was broken when Nea barged in bringing ton of snow with her. Anako was horrified at the amount of snow in her house and was about to scold the girl, who was panting so hard that for a moment Sakura thought she might pass out, interrupted the older woman.

"He's here!"

"What?" Anako furrowed her brows and it made her face look even more wrinkled.

"T-the guy!" she pointed at the open door, "I don't know his name, but I saw him enter the village."

"You mean-" Anako spared a look in Sakura's direction and Nea nodded in excitement.

"What is he doing here?" she continued and looked lost for a moment. She glanced between Sakura and the door a couple of times and then to Nea, who was expecting something from her. And then an empty look crossed her features as if she was deep in thought. Sakura stared at the spectacle happening before her. She was curious to know who they were talking about, and the way Anako was acting it had to be the guy who saved her.

"Go find Kuro."

"Why?"

Sakura's back straightened and it caught everyone's attention.

"Is everything okay?" Anako rushed to Sakura's side and gave her a once over to see if she could spot anything with visible eye.

But Sakura's eyes had widened in shock as she took in the familiar chakra. Well not that familiar since it obviously had changed quite a bit but she's always been good at recognizing these things. And she would have definitely noticed his chakra anywhere, even though it's been a long time since she's seen him last time. Thoughts of that night flooded her mind and she gasped.

She could still recall the day as if it happened yesterday. The way her heart literally broke when she saw him as her fear became true. It wasn't something she enjoyed remembering but unfortunately she couldn't avoid it. She often dreamed of that moment, and every time it feels every bit of real as the real event. The way he calls her annoying and the way his dark eyes stare so coolly at her. And his last words... _Thank you_. Still to this day she hasn't been able to understand the meaning behind those words.

"Sasuke..."

"What did you say?" the older woman was visibly gawking at Sakura, who was pulled back to present from the depths of her mind.

A small crease came in between her brows. Clearly she was confused why the woman had addressed her like that.

"You said _his_ name. You said 'Sasuke' so you must know him." she inquired, but Sakura couldn't reply. Her throat was in flames after saying just one word and she lifted her better hand around it. Immediately Anako recoiled from her prying, realizing that the poor girl couldn't answer.

"So he is called Sasuke, huh?" Nea smirked while leaning against the door frame.

"Not now, Nea." Anako grumbled and turned around to face the young teenager, "Go get Kuro, now."

"You still haven't said why?"

"I don't need to tell you everything, so do as I say."

"Always such a fussy-pants." the girl pouted and left finally closing the door. The temperature had lowered inside the house considerably and Sakura started to shiver. Her skin was so sensitive to the smallest of temperature changes. Anako immediately noticed the small gesture and she started to quickly light up the fire into the fireplace.

After struggling to light up the fire she had a trouble standing up. Sakura felt bad for the woman, who pampered her like she was her own child, and even risked her own health. If she could stand up and help her she would, but as the elderly woman stood up and brushed her tunic, all Sakura could do was give her a look of sadness.

"Ung," Anako groaned and straightened her back with a crack.

Both Sakura and Anako turned to face the hall when a knock pounded on the door.

Sakura's skin prickled as she detected Sasuke's chakra. Her heart beat picked up and she felt mike fainting. She always wanted to be at her strongest when she finally encountered Sasuke after all this time. She wanted to show him that even she can become strong like him and Naruto. Unfortunately, it was impossible right now. She can barely do the slightest of movements and can't even talk. It's still a long time before she's fully recovered and right now she can do nothing else except watch.

But what is odd is that these people know Sasuke. How do they know him and why would he come here?

Anako's hunched back disappeared in to the hall to open the door. Sakura's fingers were clutching the sheet tightly as she heard the familiar grunt of Sasuke after Anako greeted him. The old woman walked back to the living room and started cleaning the table next to Sakura's small cot.

Sakura's eyes were glued to the door way as she listened carefully Sasuke stripping himself of his cloak. What would he do when he saw her? He must know by now that she's here. Her chakra hasn't changed much at all so he had to recognize her even before he knocked on the door. Even though her chakra was almost nonexistent.

Unconsciously Sakura gripped the sheet tighter and tighter. She didn't realize she had tightened all her muscles painfully for her heart was beating so hard inside her chest that she wasn't able to be completely aware of everything. Her body started to shake and she started feeling nauseous.

A migraine slammed into her brain making her close her eyes tightly. Her head felt dizzy and before she knew it she was losing consciousness.

* * *

With his normal style Sasuke didn't greet her properly. Anako only greeted him quickly and pointed for him to leave his wet cloak on the clothing rack. After that she knew he knew what to do so she left him alone and returned to the living room.

The small table next to Sakura's cot was clustered with dirty clothes and bandages so she attacked that mess. Grabbing everything that needed to be rid of. She threw everything away and as he hovered over the trash can on near the door way while watching Sasuke place his cloak to its place she heard a thumb.

Even Sasuke stopped what he was doing looking at her with a slight tilt to his head. She didn't say anything to him and just turned around to see Sakura's slumped body on the floor. A small panic flared in her heart and she immediately dropped the dirty clothes. She sprinted as quickly as she could with her painful knees and back to the girl's side.

"S-Sakura!"

Only a minute ago she was leaning against the pillows relaxed as she followed what Anako was doing. The old woman was very careful when observing the young girl and her sad looks didn't go unnoticed. It seemed that she wasn't used to being so bedridden. The feeling oozed from her that she wanted to help Anako, but they both knew that she couldn't do anything at this moment.

But as far as Anako could tell Sakura was getting better so she didn't completely understand what caused her to fall off her bed. As Anko struggled to turn Sakura on her back she realized that the girl was unconscious. There was no way she could lift her back on the bed. Her back was already giving him trouble so even lifting an underweight girl like Sakura is purely impossible.

Looking over her shoulder she noticed Sasuke leaning on the door frame with a frown.

"Sasuke, come and help me." He didn't need any other command as he walked next to Anako and easily lifted Sakura's limp body from the ground and back to the bed. He made it look so much easier than Kuro. Of course, Sasuke was a shinobi to whom physical exertion like this was nothing. He's been through worse and nonetheless he's already carried her to the house.

Once again he laid her down softly and Anako instantly pulled the bed sheet over her. At that moment, the front door opened once again and Kuro came stumbling in. He was panting hard with a bag on his shoulder.

Sasuke nodded his head in Kuro's direction before turning back to look at Sakura. Her face was still bruised but not as swollen as it used to be. Her right eyelid was filled with scratches just like the right side of her face was. The only difference there was since he saw her last time was that there was not blood covering everything.

"I'll make some tea for us. And you must be hungry, too." Anako pointed the last sentence to Sasuke who grunted again before taking a seat on a couch near the bed. From that place he could easily observe the cot where Sakura lay unconscious. That caught her attention since normally he would sit on the opposite side of the room where you couldn't properly see the cot.

Sasuke waited silently and watched as Kuro proceeded to continue clean the eye wound and dressed it up with a new bandage. Soon all her major wounds were covered and Kuro pulled back. He placed all the stuff back into the bag and just then Anako's raspy voice called for them to dinner.

"You can take the same room as last time." Anako grumbled as she placed a pot of rice on the table.

"Oh! Sasuke-san did you know that some Konoha shinobi came here looking for her?" Kuro suddenly asked as he grabbed a spoonful of rice.

Sasuke's back stiffened before he caught himself.

"Why didn't you give her to them?" he asked. This was baffling news. Sasuke thought she would have already left with them back to Konoha.

"Kuro." Anako's voice was disapproving. "It was her choice." she said looking at Sasuke.

* * *

When Sasuke finally retreated to his room he placed his kusanagi leaning against the bed side table. Anako didn't like having weapons in her dinner table so he had to leave it to wait in the hall as they ate. It was a bother since he couldn't necessarily be affect if someone attacked him if he didn't have it with him. Of course, he could easily take care of enemies even without his kusanagi but it had become habit of having it near him.

Taking his shirt off Sasuke folded the piece and placed it on the chair near the door with the cloak from his hips and the huge belt. He didn't bother taking anything else off and just went straight to bed. But as exhausted he was which was slightly odd he couldn't fall asleep. There was a certain degree of restlessness in him and he tossed and turned in the bed.

He tried closing his eyes but nothing helped. The idea of Naruto passing by the village was startling. He could have crossed paths with the dobe so easily. However, they didn't. He could have continued his mission to brake the bonds between them. It would be a start. He still had to do something about Sakura. Things would be much easier if she had left with them. But why didn't she? Why was she still here if she had the chance to leave and have better medical care in Konoha?

Something was wrong.

Deciding against sleeping he sat up and leaned against the head board. Never has he been this restless. It was odd since normally he could sleep easily except on those nights when his nightmares fill his mind. Those are the nights he rather spends training till exhaustion over comes him. But the weather outside couldn't be any worse. He was stuck inside. He didn't even have any clue when his target was supposed to arrive so that made him even more antsy. If the weather was going to be this bad the whole time he waited, then it could slow down his training.

Sound from downstairs alerted Sasuke from his thoughts. He went completely still and waited for other sounds. Anako and Kuro had already retired to their rooms about an hour ago so they were asleep. So the only one who could be awake was Sakura. Anako is a heavy sleeper and needs more than a one bang to wake up just like Kuro. And he doubted there was a thief trying to brake in or otherwise there would be a lot more noise.

Deciding to get up since falling asleep was futile he made his way downstairs. He wasn't going to hide his presence otherwise than the normal way he walked. It was a habit to be as silent as possible and as he walked down the stairs no sound came from him.

Turning to the living room Sasuke immediately took notice of the hunch figure on the small bed and a cup on the floor. Sakura's form was trembling as she tried to fix her position so that he legs were dangling from the bed.

Sasuke didn't move a muscle to help her for it was obvious she hadn't even noticed him as of yet. She was breathing hard and heavy as she bended to pick the cup jp from the floor. Sasuke's instincts took over the next second and as Sakura started slumping from the bed he was there to catch her.

She was breathing more heavily now after making such an energy consuming move. Her thin fingers were pressing against Sasuke's biceps hard but it didn't feel like anything to the young man.

Sakura's body trembled under his arms as he began gently lifting her back on the bed. She whimpered a couple of times and Sasuke made sure not to do any fast moves so that it was as painful as possible for her. Lastly he pulled the sheet back over her before picking the mug from the floor.

She had been about to drink and now the floor was covered in water. Looking around Sasuke found a towel that he used to clean the mess. He was aware the whole time that Sakura had turned her face to look in his direction and was following him with his eyes.

He ignored it and picked the mug again. Sakura's eye was on him the whole time he walked out of the room and when he came back with filled mug.

"Why?"

Sakura's weak voice surprised him. He knew her throat was badly burned and she should be unable to speak.

"Why?" Her voice was even lower.

Sasuke was aware of what she was talking about. He wasn't sure if she knew that he was the one who had rescued her. Anako and Kuro were very strict about privacy and neither would have told about him. They knew he was a very private person.

"That's none of your business."

She swallowed hard, "You-" she started but was unable to continue because of the caughing fit that consumed her.

There was no pretending. She was weak.

"Stop worsening your situation."

"Stop commanding me."

"You're an idiot."

She glared at him as best as she could.

"Why didn't you go with the Konoha shinobi?"

She shook her head gently and closed her eyes. Sasuke glared back at her for she ignored him completely.

"Hn," he huffed annoyed and turned to retreat into his room.

That girl truly was an idiot. She could get the best help in Konoha but instead she opted to stay here. Why? If this is some secret mission to take him back to Konoha than she wouldn't succeed. He was not going back there. She can try but in her situation it was impossible. But luckily he's out of this village before she regains her strength. After that they won't meet again ever.

* * *

She was a real pain in the ass. Sasuke just wanted to shake her and make her wake up. She was not seeing how she was doing the stupidest thing. She should return to Konoha and get healed there. Not in some far away village that could barely even give her enough bandages to her wounds. An infuriating woman! For the past week when he hasn't been on the watch to see when his target is coming, she's been completely ignoring him.

She wasn't even looking his way, just staring at everything else and giving smiles at Kuro. It was getting on his nerves. He barely spoke anything while in the house and he only ate and slept there, but she could still try to acknowledge him in some way. She must be doing this on purpose. She's still as childish as she was few years back. He will not stoop to her level. He has on a mission and nothing was going to distract him.

But it was amazing in a way to watch Sakura get healed. In a matter of few days she was talking much better and didn't have any more overwhelming pain in her throat. Anako was already talking about trying to get her to walk a few steps and today was the day. Kuro was prepping himself during their breakfast while Anako catered for Sakura. They were chatting quietly in the living room so he couldn't hear what they were saying.

However even though he couldn't hear what they were saying, he could hear the tone of their speech. And Sakura was everything but calm. Her voice wavered and even the air around the house was anxious. She was still in quite a lot of pain so taking the first steps to walk was a huge thing.

And to make matters worse for Sasuke, the roads to the village were closed for the next few days. A message had come from one of the nearby villages saying that some sort of battle was going on near the border, blocking everything from moving. Which meant that the person Sasuke was after won't be here at least in the next two days. He was getting restless and antsy, but what else could he do than wait? Few hours spend on training each day was starting to get boring since it seemed that the children of the village wanted to follow him routine.

He was tired of the little kids running around him and staring him for hours on end as if they could learn something. However, none of them had even tried to approach him to ask if he could teach them anything.

"Kuro? Are you ready?" Anako's steady voice asked and in a matter of second the man was up from his chair and picking up the dirty dishes.

"Yes! I'll just clean the table first!" he answered and Sasuke took a last sip of his tea.

Kuro was like a panicking monkey. He dropped on mug two times. How can someone be so clumsy? Sasuke shook his head in annoyance and drank the last of his tea. Quietly he went to the living room to see what was about to happen. Leaning against the wall he observed Anako prepping Sakura and Sakura giving tiny glances at his way. Finally, he was at least acknowledging him.

He was getting tired of her completely ignoring him.

Finally, Kuro came and took his place other side of Sakura. Both of her upper arms were tightly in the two helpers hold and Anako counted to three. On three they hoisted gently Sakura on to her wobbly, thin feet. She had obviously lost a lot of muscle during her recovery and Sasuke felt himself biting his cheek. It bothered him.

In mere moments and after few steps Kuro was sweating like a pig. The crouched position and holding another person's weight was taking its toll on him. Sasuke wanted to punch the lights out of the guy. Such a wimp. Even Sakura seemed a little bothered, for she was glancing sideways every now and then at the panting man. Her steps began faltering even more, since she was concentrating on Kuro more than she was on trying to walk.

And what was supposed to be an easy stroll around the living room had turned out to be a disaster waiting to be happened.

The moment Sasuke saw the way Sakura other knee trembled, was the moment he was right next to them wrapping his arms around her. And in that same second her feet gave out and Kuro and Anako being too startled, forgot to hold on. Now Sasuke was the only one, alone, holding the fragile girl up and with ease nonetheless. Sakura's slim fingers were holding tightly at his shirt and she was panting hard. Even she was scared. Which he understood well. Her body was still recovering and face-planting wasn't something you wanted to do in that condition.

She was trembling all over and her head was pressed against his chest.

She was weak.

He had grown tall.

She felt to tiny compared to him. She wondered how tall Naruto was. Was he as tall as Sasuke? Did he hover over head like Sasuke did with over a foot. And did he have to make her feel so useless every single time. She couldn't even be standing if it wasn't for him. He was probably laughing at her internally, for she couldn't succeed in anything. She was still as pathetic as she used to be.

No one could see the difference. She grew up. She gained power not many can. She is the apprentice of the legendary Senju Tsunade, the fifth Hokage. She's not useless.

Her hold tightened against Sasuke and he tilted his head to look down at her. Her shoulders raised as she took a deep breath. Her shoulders stopped shaking and slowly but carefully she straightened her back. Still holding on to Sasuke, she took most of her weight on her own.

Moving her head so that she looked deeply in Sasuke eyes, she felt equal with him and the fire in her eyes startled Sasuke for a moment. The fire burning so strongly that it brought back memories of Naruto. Memories of him that he wanted to forget.

"I'm not weak."

* * *

_What did you think? I'm trying to slowly progress the SasuSaku relationship. It can't be hurried otherwise it would be too weird. But we'll see some more progress soon._

_Thanks for reviewing:_

Meemy-Chan

_and two _guests_._

_If you're interested in following me in Tumblr and want to find out how I'm progressing with my writing then find me there with the same name as JakuraAngel._

_\- Jakura_


	5. Chapter 5

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 5**

* * *

_"I'm not_ _weak._"

Sakura's raspy voice echoed in Sasuke's head. Her eyes were lit by fire as she stood straight looking at him. There was no sagging in her shoulders and no evidence of weakness. She wasn't weak.

"I never said you were," he said and a dark glint appeared in her eyes.

Flashbacks of their genin years came back to him and he immediately knew that she was thinking back to the old days. But he wasn't talking about the old days anymore. He was talking about the time since he found her half dead in the forest. This was a completely different person in front of him than the little girl he had left on that bench. That little girl back in Konoha wouldn't have survived an assault like that.

The condition he had found her in was a slaughter. She was almost slaughtered alive and he had to admit to himself that he doubted that she would live the journey to the village. She was so badly mangled that it should have been impossible, but still she pulled through.

She was weak at the time. She was in a worse condition that Naruto was after their battle at the Valley of End. She was a walking dead. She was weak, but strong at the same time. And in dire need of help. Once again she was showing her strength in front of him, by making her stance. She wasn't backing away, even though he could easily just slice her neck with his kusanagi.

This girl had fire in her eyes, a flame that showed her determination. A fire that gave her a spark to recover. However, none of this mattered if her body wasn't up to par. Her physical body was weak and in dire need of rest. Her skin was still raw from the burns and bright red in many places. Also, she was skinny. Not as in healthy skinny as she used to be, but sick. Her bones were jutting out on her shoulders and arms. Her collarbones shone and her cheeks were hollow.

She definitely needed more of nourishment. Unfortunately, she was still having problems eating. Her throat was still yet to heal properly, so she mainly fed on were light soups that couldn't even be warmed properly. But other than that, she was healing quite nicely. Her chakra was coming back slowly but there still wasn't enough of it for her to survive a battle or even a minor jump on top of a building.

He might not know the things behind her decision to not be found by the Konoha ninjas but he knew that she needed to get better. He had a bad feeling about things involving her and the quicker she recovers the better.

His eyes softened for a bit for her, and then all the strength in her vanished. Her body slumped against his and he had to catch her.

She was going to survive this.

Anako looked horrified as she and Kuro both went after the slack girl. Sasuke wasn't having any trouble holding her upright, but still they put their hands on her. Anako pulled the brown locks away from her face to see Sakura's eyes closed and brows furrowed deep. She was losing too much energy and needed to rest some more.

"Let's get her back on the bed."

The elder and man were ready to help Sasuke to carry Sakura to the bed, but they let their hold go when he scooped lower to swoop the girl into his arms. Sakura's better hand had wrapped itself around Sasuke's shirt as she gasped for breath because of the quick move he made on her. Her body was trembling because of the exhaustion and strain it had to endure.

Even herself wanted to get back to the bed and sleep. Her body was aching everywhere and head was pounding like someone was hammering it. As Sasuke was going to put her back down on the cot Anako's raspy voice stopped him.

"Wait! I think we can transfer her upstairs."

He pulled her back closer to his body and Sakura whimpered. She just wanted to go to sleep, and now they were only making her wait even longer. At this point she couldn't care less where she was sleeping. As long as she had a pillow and a blanket, she would be good. Unfortunately, Sasuke went with Anako's suggestion and walked up the stairs after the woman.

Sakura closed her eyes tightly as she tried to keep the nausea from taking over. The movement of going up wasn't doing anything good for her head and stomach. Her tight on Sasuke's shirt tightened and she just prayed for the movement to stop. Her breathing had become more laborious, but to her relief she was lowered on a bed. It was obviously much softer than the cot she was used to, and it took a moment for her to get comfortable on it.

Sasuke's hands pulled gently away from her and as Anako stepped in to take care of her, Sasuke slipped from the room silently.

Shaking his head, Sasuke left the house. He needed to train some more and clear his head. It was starting to get hard to focus on anything else except Sakura when inside the house. She constantly fills his thoughts and making his mind falter, and those are things he can't afford. The best thing right now is to finish the mission as soon as possible, and then finally leave the town entirely.

Next time Orochimaru sends him here, he will decline the offer. Sakura's presence is a liability. She attracts everybody from Konoha, since they are looking for her. It's been easy few years since no one has been looking for him constantly, but if they get any ideas that he's been here than it takes a safe place away from him. Of course, if Kakashi was to find Sakura, what would stop her from even revealing that he's been here, too.

She is still a Konoha shinobi and, obviously, the will of fire burns deep within her. It doesn't matter that for now, she doesn't want to be found by them because at some point they will. Just like him, too. They will find him and try to drag him back to Konoha. Naruto will not give up, no matter what. That idiot might have not been among the group looking for Sakura, but one day he will.

Sighing deeply, he makes his way to the training grounds. Luckily he was able to avoid the children this time, and he is able to fully concentrate on his technique.

He needs to cut down all his bonds. Even to Sakura.

* * *

The sudden commotion coming from the village alerted Sasuke from his training. It was late night and the sun was long gone from the sky. Angry and panicked voice's echoed all around to Sasuke's direction as he sheathed his kusanagi with ease. His arm muscles were slightly tender after such a long training and pushing himself further just like his legs were.

Grabbing the cloak, he had picked up earlier from Anako's house, he wrapped it around himself and headed back to the village. He had visited the village only once to grab something to eat and take the cloak just in case it got too cold. But it soon came apparent that the cloak was more of a nuisance than anything else, so he placed it aside while training. When he had visited Anako's house, it was only a quick visit for he didn't want to talk with anyone. Anako was preparing dinner in the kitchen as he silently made his way into his room and back down stairs.

Kuro, at the time, was not in the house and Sakura was asleep in her new room. The door to her room had been open as he passed by it. He didn't stop to look more closely and instead just made his way out of the house. After that he had made his way to the shop and grabbed a couple of tomatoes which he had eaten while going back to his training spot.

Nothing had seemed out of place when he had walked in the village and out of it. It was only natural for his curiosity to be triggered. As he made his way back to the village, he took his time and just listened to the yells. Panicked woman's voice echoed in the forest as she yelled for someone to stop.

Something was terribly wrong.

As Sasuke stepped through the village gates he could see many of the villagers gathered around the market area. They looked hesitant and even few backed away from the crowd to ran into their homes.

"Sasuke!" a familiar girl's voice yelled and soon someone bumped into his side. It was Nea. The girl was wrapped in a huge jacket and a scarf.

"Anako's in trouble!" she said and pulled at his arm. "They are scouting through the homes! You need to do something!"

_What was going on?_ he thought to himself.

Immediately he pushed through the crowd and made his way to Anako's house. Even from the distance he could see the door was thrown open and loud yelling came from inside the house. As his legs picked up more speed, he was stopped dead in his tracks when Kuro was thrown out of the house like a ragdoll. A chorus of laughter filled the market place and finally Sasuke noticed the group of men on horses laughing at Kuro, who was scrambling to his feet.

But what caught Sasuke's eye was the man in the middle. He was wearing very expensive looking clothes and a bag close to his body. Next thing his eyes spotted was the carriage behind the men, filled with something angular and huge cover by a brown blanket. This had to be the man he was waiting for. But why was he raiding the village? There was nothing here. It was a miracle that they could even survive this winter.

"Leave us alone!" came Anako's shriek followed by a cracking sound.

Just as Sasuke's feet went back to action, a huge man emerged from the house holding Sakura. She was thrown over his shoulder and she was completely limp.

"Hey, boss! Look what I found!" He shouted over the panicked cries and yells of the villagers. Sakura was in no condition to be outside in this weather wearing so little clothes. She was only clad in a t-shirt and shorts. Her bandages were in complete sight and some of the villagers gasped at the sight of her. No one had yet to see her, even though many has been murmuring and whispering about the injured girl in Anako's home.

Another shriek filled the village as two men came back to the market holding two other young girls. He instantly glanced behind him to see where Nea was. She was standing close to her mother with few men standing in front of her. That's when everything fully clicked in his head. This man wasn't an ordinary merchant. He was selling people.

But he needed his information from that man. It was his first priority.

"You," Sasuke's voice gained their attention.

A lanky looking man leaned closer to Sasuke with a sneer on his face, "What do you want?"

Sasuke didn't answer. Instead he moved so fast that the lanky man recoiled in surprise throwing his head from side to side to see where he had gone.

"Here," he made himself known and every man on the horses gasped in terror including Sasuke's target. Sasuke was reciding on top of the back of the merchant's horse grouched low with his kusanagi pressed against the man's jugular. He gulbed in fear pressing the cool blade into the skin and drawing a cut.

"W-what do you w-w-want?" He stuttered. "I-I can give you money!"

"I don't need your money. You have something I need." Sasuke said and tensed a little as two of the merchant's men drew out their own blades.

"Wh-what is that?"

Sasuke drew closer to him, "What is the most valuable object you have?"

The man tensed even more and Sasuke could easily recognize the horror in his eyes. Sasuke didn't flinch when the merchant gave a hand sign to the man still holding Sakura on his shoulder to drop the girl. Sakura fell to the ground without any muscle reaction and some part of Sasuke hoped it was because she had lost consciousness. Her ribs must have been killing her from being in that sort of position, and since she was already exhausted after this morning.

The huge man went to the carriage and suffled thwough a bag hidden in it. He brought out a scroll, but didn't move closer to his boss to give it to him.

"What are you doing!" the merchant yelled. "Give it to him!"

With a sneer on his face he walked closer to Sasuke and offered the scroll. Sasuke easily grabbed it and hid it under his shirt. Apparently, the man wasn't going to let things go that easy. He launched himself at Sasuke pulling a knife out of his pocket to slash Sasuke with it. With his fast reflexes Sasuke jumped in the air, but not before knocking the merchant in the head causing him to fall off the horse.

He didn't need to kill them. His main goal was to get the scroll and then deliver it safely back to Orochimaru. For all he cares these men can ran along and leave the village alone.

"You son of a bitch!" One yelled and charged at him on his horse. Sasuke dodged the attack and hit the horse on its rear causing it to flip out. Villagers had to move quickly aside because of the horse and soon the man riding it flew off it.

Sasuke turned to the merchant who was trying to get up from the snowy ground.

"Leave the village."

"You little-" he started but Sasuke was once again right in front of him lifting him in the air by his jacket. The merchant struggled against him and at the sime time tried to grab a better hold on him as to not suffocate on his jacket. He was fairly slim with not much muscle to him so it was an easy task to lift him in the air. All the men had taken their respective horses, even the one that got thrown off his, and were obviously ready to leave the village. None of them came too close to Sasuke and their leader which was a good choice.

Sasuke was starting to lose his temper and he was ready to beat the shit out of them, if they didn't leave.

"Leave." He used a darker tone and allowed the man to drop.

"Boss, come on!" One of them urged, but didn't do anything else to help their leader to get back on the horse. The merchant scrambled on his horse and without a work snapped the reins to get his horse on the move. Even his men galloped out of the village silently.

"Dear lord!" Anako's voice gasped and Sasuke turned to see the woman running towards Sakura. Her clothes were in disarray and hair was a mess. Even her face was slightly swollen maybe because the men had hit her.

Sakura was still completely still on the ground when Anako came to turn her on her back as a flock of people gathered around them. Her hair was matted and clothes were wet from lying in the snow. Not even sparing another second to think Sasuke leaned down and picked her up. She was going to get pneumonia if she wasn't dried as soon as possible.

Anako stumbled after Sasuke and closed the door, but not before yelling at everyone outside to go home.

Kuro was sitting the couch with a pack of ice on his forehead. He had his eyes closed as he leaned on the back cushion. As they trio passed by the doorway he didn't even spare a glance in their way.

They made their way to Sakura's room where the duvet was thrown off the bed alongside with few decorations broken on the floor. A smirk almost made its way on Sasuke's face as he imagined Sakura putting up a fight to get the man off her. Even in her condition, adrenaline can work its magic.

"I'll get her some dry clothes." Anako said as Sasuke laid her on the bed.

He didn't waste a second on starting to strip Sakura, and neither did he realize that she was almost completely naked right in front of him aside from her underwear. Her lips were tinted blue so he instantly went to grab the duvet to cover her bare body. Soon Anako limped inside and Sasuke helped her to redress Sakura. Taking her clothes off was easy since it was like a mechanical response to take care of her, but putting the clothes on was something else.

Sasuke did his best to keep his eyes away from Sakura's body. She was still obviously underweight and she lacked body fat in many of her body parts, but Sasuke was a growing teenage boy. Seeing a girl's body, even if it was Sakura caused a reaction in him. His body felt heated as he helped to raise Sakura from the bed so that Anako could slip the new shirt over her head.

The bruises in her body were fading to a bright yellow and for a moment Sasuke let his gaze to linger on Sakura's body as he looked over her injuries. She was healing, but it would still take a little bit of time. Finally turning his eyes away from her, he helped to put the loose shorts on her before pulling the duvet over her.

"I can manage now," Anako grumbled and grabbed a towel to dry Sakura's hair.

Sasuke gave the older woman a look and he almost asked about her own injuries, but was silenced by the stern look. Shaking his head, he left the room.

* * *

_Thanks for reviewers:_

vero1092

annoying reader

umm

_and four _guests_._

_\- Jakura_


	6. Chapter 6

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 6**

* * *

"Go back to Konoha."

After a very sleepless night and annoyance that filled him to the brim, Sasuke felt like dragging Sakura's ass back to the Fire Country. It was ridiculous that she was here and trying to heal without any proper care. Yes, Anako was good with injuries and taking care of them, but if he has heard correct than Sakura should be the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage. Not to forget that the Fifth Hokage is known for her incredible healing abilities.

If Sakura were in Kohona right now, she would be in top shape no doubt. But no. She's here and it seems that the universe is against her healing. Her voice was still very much croaky and she had much more bruising on her body than yesterday because of the men attacking the village. She also seemed much more exhausted than few days ago, but that might be because of what happened.

Unfortunately, none of the pain and suffering eased her stubbornness. She was still very much against the idea of going to Konoha, no matter how much Sasuke insisted. Early morning, he had gone training for a few hours before returning for breakfast. Sakura was still in her room not being able to participate but Anako dutifully took care of her and took her some food upstairs.

Sasuke couldn't help but notice that her portions sizes were getting slightly bigger which was a good sign.

"No." She almost shook her head in denial but stopped the motion even before it began. Her shoulders were slightly hurt and moving the muscles wasn't easy since they were not only sore but also very tense. From being so immobile for so long had its tool on her muscles, not to mention being rag-dolled around like she weighted nothing and wasn't even a human being.

"Stop being stubborn." Sasuke's frustration was growing slowly. All morning since breakfast which was few hours ago Sasuke had tried to pester the teenage girl to change her mind, but so far his efforts has been fruitless.

Sakura's icy glance turned to him as she glared at him, "This is none of your problem."

It was odd to see her so hostile towards him. After growing up with her in the Academy and then being assigned into a same team, Sasuke was much more used to the in-love-with-him type of Sakura, who did anything to please him. But this Sakura had obviously grown. This Sakura wasn't a little girl with a huge crush on the coolest guy in their class, but she was almost a grown woman, who wanted to mind her own business.

But, in this case, she was being stupid, right now. She just couldn't see why it would be better for her to go back to Konoha. However, Sakura wasn't the type of girl to do anything without a motivation. And that is what puzzled him the most. He just couldn't figure out why she didn't want to go back. She loved the village and even tried to pursue him to stay.

He had some up with few ideas why she wasn't going back. Either she still had a crush on him and thought she could watch after him while staying here, but he wasn't staying here permanently and she was very much hostile towards him. It couldn't be that because there was no way she could drag him back to Konoha. Another idea was that she was completely stupid. But that neither could that be the case. There had to be ulterior motive that he just didn't know and she was the only person to know it.

Anako then walked into the room with a small tray with a soup on top. She was bringing Sakura her lunch so that she could eat and hopefully her healing would become faster. It was a real miracle that she was able to feed on her own, but still Anako or Kuro watched very intently as she ate. Sasuke felt annoyed by these facts because they were treating her like a child.

Sakura obviously was bothered by the fact too but did her best to ignore it just like she did her best to ignore the pestering Uchiha currently standing in her room.

"Thank you," she said with a croaky voice as she took a hold of the warm soup.

The entire duration of her eating Sasuke pondered whether he should glare at her to change her mind or to just swing her over his shoulder and take her back himself. This was ridiculous. Why was he even so bothered by her staying here? It was her life and if she wanted to live the life of not being in her home town then that shouldn't concern him. With that thought in mind he glared at Sakura one last time before walking out of the room.

He also had to return to Orochimaru and bring the scroll with him. Orochimaru was probably waiting for him already and dwelling in this town did nothing to help him on his quest to find Itachi and kill him. He had better things to do than babysit Sakura and make sure that she got the best treatment, which she obviously was not getting.

Walking into his own room Sasuke backed all his items and put them into the bag he had been using. Grabbing the cloak from the chair in the room he put it on and took the bag with him. Kuro was cleaning the foyer as he descended the steps and the young man noticed his presence immediately.

"A-are you leaving already?" Kuro's face was marred with bruises and cuts that were healing nicely from last night.

"Yes."

"Do-does grandmother know? She didn't mention you leaving today."

Sasuke shrugged and went out the door. As he was closing the door he saw Kuro already taking steps up the stairs probably to find his grandmother to tell that he already left. Sasuke wasn't the type of person to say goodbyes and this wasn't the time to start. With a hop, he was already outside the village walls and heading back to the base to take the scroll back to his teacher.

The traveling back was quick and took no effort from Sasuke at all. He had gotten so used to the terrain that it was easy to slip around the trees and make his way away from the village. But as he jumped from tree branch to tree branch he couldn't help but feel the tiny bang inside his chest. Shaking it off wasn't easy and he did his best to ignore it for the remaining if his travels.

* * *

It has already been few months since Sakura was brought to the small village where Anako and her grandson lived just the two of them. And for those few months the two had taken care of the severely injured kunoichi brought to their door steps by an old friend. That night was a night of horror and not sleeping. Trying to stable Sakura's vitals was something that had been everything but easy.

Sasuke hadn't come back since he had left and Sakura felt relieved. She didn't want to hear him tell her to go to that place he didn't even want to go back to.

Shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts of Sasuke, Sakura stood up from her bed and picked up the light jacket on the edge of the bed. Kuro was downstairs and Sakura joined him in the kitchen to accompany him as he prepared their lunch. It was almost twelve o'clock and Sakura felt hungry. Her body was becoming more and more used to eating bigger meals and she felt hungry more often.

She even gained a few pounds back and was well on her way to recovery. Especially now that her chakra was starting to return to normal. She could heal her own wounds to some extent but the malnutrition and muscle deprivation won't be fixed with nothing else except food and exercise. They were taking small walks with Anako every now and then to make her move more, but it was still difficult to go too long distances.

Fortunately, none of the villagers had recognized her from the photo's Sakura's friends had shown around. Her hair was still colored brown to cover her most distinct features and she enjoyed the anonymity. She had no string and no responsibility as she recovered. Some of the villagers greeted her often and offered to help her. Anako had even helped her to create an identity.

She was called Sayuri by everyone. It was a simple name and Anako told that she was found by Sasuke laying in the snow badly injured just like he did, but she also added that she had no recollection of her past. The cut and bruising on her forehead could easily cover that lie.

It was a calm life, but Sakura also itched to use her chakra. As they took their small trolls around the village Sakura could see the injured people around. Many had to give up their last bandages and ointments to keep Sakura alive and that is why she felt remorseful. She wanted to give back to them what they had given to her.

Sakura was startled out of her thoughts when the front door banged open and Anako's voice yelled, "Kuro!"

The said man sprang into action and ran for the foyer. Sakura sat in the kitchen and watched as Anako brought an older woman inside. The woman was breathing hard and obviously was having a hard time breathing. Another older woman walked right after the others into the living room. It had to be her sister since they looked so much alike. At this point, Sakura had stood up and went to see that the woman was being lowered on to the cot in the corner.

Kuro stacked a bunch of pillows at the end to put the woman into a half-seated position. She was at this point coughing her lungs out. Her breathing was raspy and to Sakura's trained medic's eyes it seemed that she was having trouble with her lungs.

"Just breath calmly." Anako instructed the woman who only nodded.

As Sakura watched everyone trying to make the woman feel more comfortable as her sister was nervously walking around the room making the air even more tense. Sakura walked to the woman and placed her arm on her shoulder, "Maybe you should take a seat." she said with the most calming tone she could muster.

The wrinkled woman nodded and Sakura helped her onto the couch.

As she finally looked up she saw Anako sitting next to the other woman and holding her hand. But what Sakura noticed was the blue tint in the woman's lips. Sakura stood up straight and went to stand next to sitting Anako. In all honesty, Sakura didn't even think as she reached her hand to the woman's chest and started healing. The light green glow that came from her hands made the woman's eyes widen and she looked baffled.

Anako didn't question anything but the sister did. She had stood up and barreled her way to the three women. She almost grabbed Sakura's arm if it wasn't for Anako, who stopped her.

"What is she doing!?" the woman squealed and tried to pull herself away from Anako's hold.

"She's helping Choya. Calm down." Anako's words were stern and she told the woman to watch as her sister's breathing leveled and her lips finally had pink hue to them.

"Chiya," Choya said with a gentle look on her face, "calm down. I think she's actually helping me."

As Sakura finally stepped away from the cot, Chiya barreled next to her sister and held her hand, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes. I'm feeling much better. I can actually breathe easier."

It was sad that the village was a bit hostile towards the shinobi but what can you do. These people rather died than took help from any of the Hidden Villages. That was something Sakura couldn't change because she had to come up with a plan to what she was going to do next. She wasn't sure if she should go and find Naruto, he was very likely still training with Jiraya since he hadn't come looking for her.

She doubted that he wouldn't scout this village if he knew that she was missing. Losing Sasuke was already hard on the them both, but Naruto still had her. Now he had none of his teammates. All Sakura could hope of is that everyone else in the village took care of him. She couldn't return there. Not yet if she wanted to stay alive.

* * *

Sakura's heart was racing inside her chest as she woke up with a start. Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

She tried using her senses to detect anything but she couldn't. She hid her chakra and laid there motionless. It was in the middle of a night and the only light coming in was through the window that came from the moon. But since it was the end of winter the sky was cloudy and not much light came to the earth.

The adrenaline spike she had toned down and she just listened. There was nothing abnormal she could hear or anything that might indicate that things were wrong other than the feeling inside her gut.

She could hear Kuro's loud snoring through the walls and nothing more.

Her back was towards the closed slightly a jar door and there was no way a person could move in the hallway without making any sounds. The floors were too creaky even for Sasuke to try and hide his presence. Every time he came down stairs and Sakura was still laying on the cot, she could hear his silent footsteps that always caused the smallest of creeks on the floor.

But she couldn't hear anything.

But why was her body so on the edge.

Unfortunately, she couldn't thing anything else because she felt a pain on her leg that instantly paralyzed her. Her panic rose instantly as she tried to look around the room only to be unable to move anywhere. There was no one else in the room!

But as her heart rate accelerated more and more she felt dizzy. Her mind became cloudy than even the sky at the time and thinking became impossible. As she finally started to sink into darkness, she felt something moving under her covers.

* * *

_What do you think? Leave a review._

_Thanks for reviewers:_

ILoveSxS

kawaii

Uchiha Misaki

-Chan

_and two _guests_._

_\- Jakura_


	7. Chapter 7

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 7**

* * *

"Put the I.V on her."

"Hmph."

"Stop wasting my time, Karin. I need to leave before midnight."

Sakura's brain was very foggy and she wasn't sure if she was hearing things correctly. Was she imagining this conversation between two people or were there actually people around her talking. Everything was so disorientating that she had no idea if she was on her back or on her stomach. Her body felt oddly numb and not in a good way.

"Kabuto, she's awake." The Karin girl said and Sakura furrowed her brows. Kabuto? Why was Kabuto here? Where the hell was she.

She started blinking her eyes and it was a lot easier than she thought despite her body being slightly numb. The room was quite dim and a bit chilly. And in deed Kabuto was there leaning over her and looking straight into her eyes. Sakura tried moving her limbs but was unable to. Her heart leaped in panic as she lifted her head to see what was happening. She was lying on a stone bed with cuffs holding her down in each of her limbs.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked and tugged at the restrains.

"Well, Miss Haruno," Kabuto started and brought a bottled of liquid from a table only to set it on an I.V rack. That's when she felt a tiny prick on her forearm and her head whipped to the right. A red headed girl, about her age, was leaning over Sakura's arm and placed an I.V needle into her skin. This must be the Karin person.

A peeping sound increased in the room and Sakura looked around. Realizing that the peeping came from a heart monitor that was attached to her, it all came down to her. He was going to experiment with her. Kabuto was going to make her a test subject to Orochimaru. She needed to get out of here. This just couldn't be happening to her. What were they going to do with her?

She was merely Tsunade's apprentice and had learned her mentor's chakra control. It was Sasuke they wanted so why were they coming after her like this. She was literally nothing compared to the Uchiha, who had limitless abilities with his sharingan.

Where the hell was even Sasuke? Was he the one who told these people to get her? Did he actually hate her so much that he wanted her to be some test animal, who was going to be tortured by these monsters. Was he even in the same hideout she was in or had he gone off on another mission to please his mentor? Sakura was very well aware, what was going on in Orochimaru's hideouts. While scrolling through some information in the library she came across few scrolls about the snake loving man.

And those scrolls were horrific to read. There was nothing good in them and it made her disgusted. How can someone use medicine and the advances of it to something so evil and disturbing. She had to talk with Tsunade after that day since she was Orochimaru's former teammate until the said man fled Konoha and has been on the run ever sense.

Not to forget, Orochimaru is the person, who helped Sasuke to leave Konoha and become his pupil. He also gave Sasuke the cursed seal which caused Sakura to be alone with Naruto and Sasuke unconscious for hours in the Forest of Death. But that also was a milestone for her. She found her inner strength that day and became more self-aware of her own goals.

She struggled even more against the cuffs and even tried to use her chakra to enhance her powers, but nothing happened. Shouting in frustration and annoyance she stared intently at Kabuto who walked to Karin and attached the drip into the I.V on her arm.

"Let me go!" Sakura shouted and tried to pull her arm away to no avail.

What bout Anako and Kuro? Were they harmed?

"Give her some sevoflurane to breath in. We don't want her to exhaust herself." Kabuto said and fiddled with the drip.

"Will it be okay with the IPE-4 going into her?" Karin asked and walked to somewhere behind Sakura's head where she couldn't see. A sound of something rolling towards her picked her heart beat even more. She knew very well what sevoflurane was. An anesthetic gas that was used to keep people asleep during surgery. It was one of the most common gasses Tsunade used during her surgeries.

"Just trust me. I'm not some good for nothing medic. I know what I'm doing. It only causes a little nausea and maybe throwing up, but nothing more." Came Kabuto's annoyed reply as he gave a warning look in Karin's direction.

Kabuto seemed to be in hurry. He's hands moved efficiently with familiar awareness of a medical shinobi. He obviously knew what he was doing and what he was supposed to do.

"I'll be back in a week. Make sure that the IPE-4 is dripping all the time." Kabuto said again and disappeared from Sakura's vision. "Put a naso-gastric tube on her. We can't have her starving, and start dripping some nutrient fluids into her."

"It'll be pain in the ass to put it on her if she's asleep." Came Karin's annoyed tone, then Karin's hands came back to her vision she tried throwing her head from side to side to stop her from placing the gas mask on her.

She needed to be aware of everything they did to her! They couldn't put her under!

With some struggle, the red head put the gas mask over Sakura's mouth and nose and held it there. Sakura instantly recognized the gas and tried to hold her breath until she couldn't any longer. She gasped in need of air and she had to breath the gas. After only few breaths she felt her eyelids grow heavy and her own breathing level out.

The last thing her eyes took notice of was Karin's emotionless face over her holding the gas mask in place.

* * *

Tsunade banged her hand on the wooden desk in her office. Shizune was standing in front of her holding Tonton in her arms. The pig looked stressed out and struggled against Shizune's hold, who had to let the pig go to run under a bench on the other end of the room.

The Fifth Hogake has been anything but pleasant the past few months after Sakura's disappearance. There were no clues anywhere of Sakura's location or if she was even alive, but Tsunade wanted to believe that her apprentice was alive and well. Sakura wasn't a weak girl. She was an excellent kunoichi with a bright future ahead. Tsunade was sure that the pinkette would even eventually surpass her, because the amazing chakra control the girl has.

"Kakashi's been on the look out, and so far, nothing has come up. He doesn't even sense her anywhere. All of her traces on the battleground had disappeared." Tsunade mumbled to herself.

"Tsunade-sama, we will find her. I'm sure when Naruto comes back with Jiraya-sama, we will find her. Naruto won't want to lose another teammate." Shizune explained and went after Tonton to grab the little piggy back into her arms.

"I just wished we could have found her before Naruto returned." The blond woman huffed and leaned against her hands.

Everyone was feeling antsy because of Sakura's disappearance because it seemed almost impossible for one team to experience such losses. First Sasuke left on his own will and hasn't returned and now Sakura.

The only problem with Sakura was that they had no idea if she left on her own accord or if she was kidnapped. Sakura adored the village, she had the Will of Fire burning inside her and she has done nothing but excelled in her training the past years. Tsunade couldn't be more proud of her and only wished good things for her student. Sakura had also never mentioned anything that might indicate her leaving the village.

She always loved everyone and was kind, but with a fiery temper like her teacher. Nothing in her bac ground would indicate that she had purposely left the village except the fact that years ago she had tried to go with Sasuke, who had declined her offer leaving her alone on a bench outside in the middle of a night.

Sakura might have cared for the young Uchiha boy but she wouldn't go this far for romance, now would she.

"Tsunade-sama," Came Shizune's annoyed and scolding tone, "You're thinking about the romance thing again, aren't you?"

"Tch."

"You've been reading too many novels these past weeks. Sakura isn't a stupid, love struck girl anymore. You need to give her more credit." Shizune continued and petted Tonton's head, who had completely relaxed in her arms.

Tsunade leaned against his chair, "Who knows?" shrugging her shoulders.

"What romance?" Suddenly came a familiar lazy voice slightly scaring both women in the office. Kakashi was crouched on the windowsill lazily with one of his books in his hands as he leaned against the side of the open window.

"Kakashi!" Tsunade yelled angry and almost threw a scroll at him.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He waved his hands and hopped down from the window. "I couldn't help but hear you two talking about a romance. What's going on?"

Shizune shook her head and sighed, "Tsunade's imagination is going wild. She's been thinking that Sakura ran away to Sasuke like in some romance story." Kakashi's brows furrowed at Shizune's words, who instantly was shocked at the reaction.

"You don't think it could be possible, do you? You've known her the longest of us all." Shizune asked unsure of what the jonin was thinking about.

It took a while for Kakashi to reply, "No. She wouldn't do that. She would wait for Naruto to return and go find Sasuke together. Sakura is a team player, and won't go doing any solo mission like these." Kakashi said with a serious tone. "I think something bad is happening to her, right now."

A knock on the door was followed by the door opening even without Tsunade's permission. The Elders walked in with Danzō in the front and Koharu and Homura behind him.

"What brings you here?" Tsunade glared at them. She wasn't fond of their ways of just barging in to her office.

"We came to talk about the new contract with the Hidden Sand village, but couldn't help but hear you talking about Miss Haruno Sakura." Danzō said and walked towards Tsunade's desk.

"What about her?" Tsunade asked with interest. She couldn't believe that the Konoha's Council member were even giving Sakura a thought.

"We think it is futile to place our resources in finding that girl. She is very likely dead and won't be found." Koharu answered.

"It has only been couple of months since she's been missing." Kakashi said sternly. "I'm sure we can find her soon."

"We're wasting resources. After the winter, things have been much slower here and all the other surrounding villages. We, the council, think that for now we could set aside trying to find that kunoichi."

* * *

_Two months before Naruto returns to Konoha_

Sasuke wasn't ecstatic. No, he was the complete, opposite of that, as he traveled towards Orochimaru's Southern Hideout. A prisoner had gone missing few days ago and they had to find him before something bad happened. Orochimaru's test subject could be dangerous when let out and could easily attack other people while at the same time cause a lot of havoc.

Sasuke's training with Orochimaru had lessened quite a bit the past few months. There hasn't been much training with the Sannin and Sasuke has been doing most of his training alone. The unfortunate thing for the Snake Sannin was that he was completely unaware that Sasuke knew that his condition was worsening. Kabuto was doing his best to hide the effects of the jutsu the Third Hokage caused on him, but it was starting to be obvious.

Soon Ororchimaru would want to get Sasuke's body and Sasuke didn't care at this point. He just wanted to kill Itachi as soon as possible.

The only annoyance right now was the travel from the Land of Sound to the Land of Waves where the Southern Hideout was. He had to pass through the Land of Fire and he didn't have the patience to come across anyone from Konoha. Last time, he came to the Southern Hideout was similar kind of visit as this time. At the time, many prisoners had escaped and Karin, Orochimaru's follower, needed his help to capture them.

Karin was the one in charge of the Southern Hideout and could be a real pain in the ass at times. But other than that, she was a capable kunoichi. She could heal everyone no matter how injured they were and her sensory skills were on a whole another level. In other words, she was a good companion if needed. She even was able to drag Suigetsu, from Eastern Hideout, back there with her sealing abilities.

Suigetsu was a real trouble maker. But he had to prove his worthiness if he wanted to get out of the hideout at some point. During the past months, Sasuke's been collecting information about Orochimaru's best test subject. He needed to have something to help him find Itachi and, so far, Suigetsu and Karin were the first options. Jūgo was another capable shinobi. Very dangerous but with his sharingan, Sasuke could help control him.

Jūgo was the most dangerous of the three of them. He could lose all sense of understanding and calm if riled too much. He was also one of the main test subjects of Orochimaru. From Jūgo, Orochimaru created the Cursed Seal that even adorned Sasuke's neck.

But so far he still had no need for a team.

Finally, Sasuke arrived at the coast line and jumped on to the water. Easily he ran across it towards the hideout. It was already past midnight and he's been on the move since this morning.

As he came upon the small island Sasuke stopped in front of the massive doors. A bang on it and it took few second before the door was opened by one of Orochimaru's followers. The thin looking man didn't look his way at all and Sasuke brushed past him into the hideout. He had to find Karin and get more information about the escapee.

Karin was in one of the labs. She was pacing around the room in concentration and didn't notice that Sasuke had arrived. Usually she knew instantly, so something must be very much wrong.

"Karin," his voice finally snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Sasuke-kun!" She looked utterly surprised and flushed. "I didn't know you were already here."

"What's the problem?" Sasuke asked and waited for Karin's response.

"Well, a prisoner ran away and we just need your help to find them." Karin explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I know that, but I need something to identify them with." This was taking too long for his liking.

Karin crossed her arms over her chest and bit her lip, "So Kabuto didn't tell you?"

Sasuke merely lifted his eyebrow not looking impressed at all. What was this woman doing stalling him?

"She's a girl, my age, my height," she swallowed, "pink hair, green eyes."

"What?!" Sasuke's voice rose and Karin flinched. His long strides brought him right in front of Karin, who lowered her head in shame. She knew that Sakura was his former teammate because who wouldn't know about the pink haired kunoichi. She was the Fifth Hokage's apprentice and very well-known medical ninja.

Sasuke's tall form towered over Karin's, who was avoiding looking at the obviously furious Uchiha. But in such a close range, Sasuke took notice of the bruising on Karin's body. Bruises peeked from under her collar and side of her neck looked to be healing. They weren't the kind of bruising she received by being bitten to heal someone. It looked like she had to fight something. And Sasuke had a hunch it had to be Sakura.

That's why they need him to catch her. Even in a bad condition Sakura still put up a fight with Karin. Though Karin could very well beat her in a fight, Sakura wouldn't give up that easily. And if they made Sasuke go and get her, it would very likely be much easier and less stressful for everyone.

"It isn't my fault!" She was able say, "She was the best candidate for Orochimaru's newest test."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and you could see his jaw clenching. Without another word, he stormed out of the room and back outside.

In all honesty, he should just let her go, but he was sure she wasn't going to return to Konoha. Not by far. And very likely she wasn't going to go back to Anako's. She might not even survive the travel that far since Orochimaru is known for under feeding his test subject. That way they couldn't escape because exhaustion would kick soon in. Sakura might not even be far.

She was already in a pretty bad shape back at Anako's but who knows what has happened since she ended up here.

Sasuke's legs took him easily over the sea and towards the forest. Activating his sharingan, Sasuke scanned the area to see anything out of the ordinary.

Something moved to his right and Sasuke instantly went there.

And bingo. Sakura was sitting there, leaning against a trunk of a tree looking exhausted. As he landed next to her, she didn't even look surprised as she lifted her tired gaze at him.

It was weird looking at her. He had gotten used to the brown hair that staring at her pink locks was almost foreign. She looked so much like herself but at the same time did not. She had once again lost a lot of weight, and a tube was inserted through her nose and taped to her cheek.

She looked pale and bony, but that fire in her eyes had not faded at all.

* * *

_I'm a real superwoman today. I posted _Breaking The Habit_ this morning and now this. Sooo next week will be _His Possession_._

_Thanks for reviewers:_

Kiyomi Inuzuka

ILoveSxS

Uchiha Misaki

_and two_ guests_._

_Leave a review! I would like to know what do you think about this turn of events. Does anyone have any idea what might have happened to Sakura when Sasuke found her in the forest months ago?_

_\- Jakura_


	8. Chapter 8

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 8**

* * *

Sasuke crouched down to Sakura's level and her eyes never left his form. To Sasuke it was like looking at a wild animal ready to bounce at any minute. He didn't make any move to get anymore closer to her than the ten feet he was away from her.

The over all look on her face was hostile and her whole body language was tense.

"Sakura," he started but even though the look on her face told him to shut up he continues, "let's get you back to the hideout."

She didn't reply at all and just glared at away. But after being with her occasionally at Anako's he was used to the silent treatment. It wasn't anything new and actually he very much expected it. What more reasons to hate on him than being kidnapped by his mentor. Sasuke might not have been involved in the whole situation, but she might not know it yet.

He was the one in the village most of the time so it probably woke up Kabuto's or Oroshimaru's interest, but for what use did they need her for and how long has she been here. He hasn't been to Anako's in months and neither does the older woman have any means to contact him.

Sasuke made a move to get closer to Sakura.

"Don't touch me!" She shrieked instantly and did her best to back away. Sasuke was startled at the panicky way she talked and started to move away. Her arms were shaking from the effort and her legs were cramping as she literally dragged her body away from Sasuke. She looked utterly horrified at the idea of him touching her.

As she tried dragging herself away, her arms gave away under her and she collapsed on the ground.

No wonder she didn't get further away, but however she still seemed lash out good at Karin.

"You're in no condition to even get anywhere else. Stop being annoying." Sasuke snapped back and this time he walked closer to her and reached out to grab her arm.

As his fingers wrapped around her upper arm the scream Sakura let out was ear piercing. It sounded as if someone was being tortured so Sasuke quickly retreated his arm away and took a step back. Sakura's whole body had started to tremble and she looked as if she was having a seizure of some sort. Her limps were twitching and head shaking. She looked like she was in a lot of pain.

She was heaving and panting as if she was trying to throw up, which is exactly what she did after a few seconds. What came out wasn't anything food like, it was something brownish and yellow mixed obviously with stomach acids.

_What the hell did Kabuto and Orochimaru do?_ That's all Sasuke could think about. As far as he knew no other test subject had reacted this badly before. Yes, many were treated very poorly but no one had such symptoms.

Sakura honestly looked like a drug addict going through her withdrawal.

Deciding it was better to knock her out than drag her back kicking and screaming, Sasuke walked in front of her with his sharingan activated. Her eyes snapped to his the moment he walked into her vision and it was that easy to make her succumb into the genjutsu. Her body went instantly limp so Sasuke scooped her up into his arms.

Karin was already waiting at the hideouts door pacing back and fort, but stopped her moving when he sensed Sasuke coming.

"You couldn't go pick her yourself?" Sasuke asked even more annoyed. It was obvious that Karin could have easily taken care of Sakura herself so it was a real mystery why she didn't do it. Instead he was called from over a day of travel away and get her.

"I prefer not to do anything to her unless she's tied up." Karin leaned her hip against the doorway.

"She's not in any condition to even fight back."

"Well, if she was then I wouldn't be having this problem." She exclaimed back and went back into the hide out.

Sasuke walked after her trying to not focus on the sick looking girl in his arm. Sakura was covered in sweat and grime, and not to forget vomit. Her injuries from months ago had healed completely which seemed like a miracle, but her right arm seemed still unhealed. It looked raw and painful.

"Place her on the table," Sasuke did as was told and Karin continued to wrap Sakura's legs and wrists to the stone table, "and you can let the genjutsu go."

Sakura's body twitch once as she was released from the hallucination. Her eyes flashed open faster than one would have expected and she instantly scanned the room. Her eyes landed on Karin after sweeping a hating glare to Sasuke.

Sasuke leaned against the labs wall and observed Karin as she dug through the drawers. Pulling out a packet that had something wrapped inside Karin headed with it back next to Sakura. The pink haired girl started trashing against the restrains but she didn't had much leverage to move. She was tightly held against the stone slab with no where to go.

A grunt left her lips when Karin touched her cheek to pull the tape off along with the tube inside her nose. Sakura once again looked like she was having a seizure as she convulsed against the stone obviously trying not to vomit. Her fingers were tightly pressing against her palm and drawing blood as she struggle against literally everything.

Karin was the real professional here compared to Sasuke, who had his brows furrowed in both confusion and mild disgust. He really couldn't figure out what they were doing to Sakura for her to be in such condition.

"Why the tube?" He dared to ask Karin, who had ripped the new package open only pull the exact same tube out that she had just pulled from Sakura's nose.

"She won't eat otherwise."

It was a quick process as Karin stepped near Sakura's head and grabbed her chin. She wasn't being gentle at all as she held Sakura's head in place and inserted the tube through Sakura's nostril. Sakura gagged for a second before Karin quickly let her hold go on Sakura's chin but not on the tube. Quickly she taped the tube again to Sakura's cheek and reached to the table next to her and attached the tube into the brown bag's tube that she had prepared before hand.

At this point Sakura wasn't moving at all unless you counted the slight trembling and her loud breathing through her nose.

Sasuke really had no idea how he should take all of this. He was used to seeing both Orochimaru and Kabuto do these kind of things to their test subjects, but this was a person he knew on a personal level. It was a completely different thing, right?

Shaking his head and deciding it was best to just get some rest before planning on returning back.

"Where you going, Sasuke-kun?" Karin's voice echoed in the hallway as Sasuke opened the door to leave.

"To sleep." Was his mere reply when he closed the door after him.

* * *

"Stop glaring at me." Karin said and huffed as she fiddled with the drip making sure that Sakura got her nutrients.

"Why did you have to call _him_?" Sakura asked and coughed a few times. Having a tube in your pharynx wasn't the most comfortable feeling especially when you were lying on your back with no way to turn yourself.

"I told you many times, I'm not the one going after you once you run away."

Sakura huffed, "You scared of me?"

"Maybe." Karin shrugged her shoulders, "Not many have broken the east side of this hideout to bits. And since healing myself is impossible, I'd rather not test my limits with you." She answered truthfully. Sakura's strength was humongous and even though Karin had few tricks up her sleeve she wasn't going to test the apprentice of the Fifth Hogake. And since she spend most of her days cooped inside a lab, training was the last thing on her mind.

"You should try me sometime." Sakura said finally, "You might even win."

"Ororchimaru-sama wouldn't like that."

"How can you even stand him if he uses you for his own good?"

"First of all, I'm not being used like I was in Kusagakure and I can express my own desired more freely." It really wasn't a surprise to Sakura that Karin was used like a tool. She had so many scars from bites around her body that it was impossible for them to have come from free will. But as a medic herself Sakura was impressed by Karin's ability to heal others by them biting her skin.

It was a unique ability, but of course it wasn't efficient to the user herself. Sakura was able to heal her own body if needed but that wasn't something Karin was able to do. That's why she still had the bruising and cuts Sakura caused her.

"Watching people being tortured day in and day out seems nice," Sakura mumbled sarcastically.

"You seem talkative today." Karin hummed and went to fill another bottle.

"Like you don't?" Sakura fired back. "You like Sasuke don't you?" She asked finally and Karin's body language screamed the answer. Her body tensed as if given an electric shock and her head whipped around to look at Sakura.

"What about it?" The clipped tone probably should have surprised Sakura, but in all honesty it didn't. It was like looking into a mirror of a younger version of herself.

"Your eyes," Sakura glanced at Karin, whose eyes widened in shock, and then she continued, "been there done that."

Karin seemed shocked to silence with a syringe and a bottle of medicine of some sort in her hands. After a couple of deep breaths and a thoughtful look on her face Karin asked, "You have a crush on him?"

"I _had _a crush on him, back when I was naive and stupid. But honestly who wouldn't have, he is literally the ideal looking guy for everyone. Tall, dark and handsome." Sakura had a melancholic look on her face as she recalled the moments back in Konoha when Team 7 was still intact. Those were easy and good times.

"Why do you sound so spiteful when you speak of him?" Karin asked again. It wasn't often they had a conversations like this because most of the time Sakura was completely out of this world full of drugs and medicine.

"There's quite a big chance he is the reason why-" Sakura's words were caught sort as another coughing fit strike her. She felt once again like gagging and throwing up all of the nutritious liquids given to her through the naso-gastric tube.

Karin waited patiently until Sakura was ready to speak again.

"He might be the reason why I'm here."

"You think he told Orochimaru about your ability to control chakra?" Karin finished what Sakura meant to say. "I think you're making him sound more bad than he actually is. Sasuke is a very distant person but he's not the devil."

"I know he is, but people change."

Shaking her head Karin turned back to the table and continued maxing the concoction. She knew that Sakura was Sasuke's teammate back in Konoha because that is what Kabuto has been telling her, but to actually hear that Sakura had feelings for Sasuke was a shock. She seemed such a distant person and strong that it felt unbelievable to hear and understand something like that.

She would have never thought of that either. But she guessed Sakura's words were right. Sasuke really was the ideal package if you were looking for the dark and mysterious type of a guy. Sasuke fit that picture perfectly. The only down side was that Karin had no idea how to get him to understand her feelings and maybe even reciprocate them.

Sparing a glance at Sakura's weakened form on the stone slab she noticed that the girl had lost her consciousness once again.

* * *

_"This is all your fault."_

_"You should have just left me there to die."_

_"All of this is your fault."_

_"Don't touch me!"_

Sasuke's eyes flashed open and his chest heaved from strong intakes of breath. Sakura's beaten and bruised body from months ago flashed in his mind making him grit his teeth. The way she had swayed from side to side and the blood that was covering her almost completely. Still even in his mind it was a gruesome sight to see.

And now yesterday, it was almost the same situation. Sakura physically weak and throwing up on ground covered in sweat and looking feverish. Her body had trembled and she had detested the idea of him touching her at all. And it looked like his touched had caused her some form of pain. What was Orochimaru doing to her?

All the moments of when Sakura took care of him came to his mind next. In the Forest of Death during the chūnin exam, then when Gaara attacked Konoha she protected him and then in the Land of Snow.

Shaking his head in annoyance, Sasuke sprang up from the bed and left the room leaving his shirt behind. He needed to find more details, right now. It had started to bother him so much to know why they needed Sakura. He was aware that she was highly intelligent and was a medic trained by Tsunade, but what other abilities could she have that were necessary for Orochimaru to not let her escape.

Sasuke made his way back to the lab and was not surprised at all to find Sakura on the bed. Karin had plugged her in a heart monitor that showed her too high pulse and EKG. It looked like even in her sleep she was doing something exhausting. The tube was still in her nose dripping that brown liquid slowly in and she also had an IV on her arm that was dropping a clear looking liquid into her veins.

To Sasuke's wonder Sakura's body was mostly covered by a blanket. Karin seems to have at least some sort of human heart in her.

Deciding not to get too close to the wires Sasuke stepped around and went for the cabinets. Digging through them and searching for something that might have some clues for him. At the last row under a computer was a full row of cabinets with files in them. The files were in alphabetical order and Sasuke looked for both Haruno and Sakura. Finally from the S-part he found her file and dug it out.

The first page was filled with casual information about Sakura, with her height and weight along with blood types and everything. It was like looking at any medical file of a person. On the next page the was Kabuto's hand writing and on top of the page read 'IPE-4'. As he scanned the page quickly, words such as immunity and poisons popped out. But as the text went on from page to page the word 'poison' changed to acids.

"What the-," he mumbled to himself.

They were trying to get her skin immune to acids and poisons. Poisons was very much understandable since Sasuke was immune to them as well because of few Orochimaru's tests, but to be immune to acids is a completely different thing. But it seemed that they needed chakra control to be able to execute the immunity, and that is when things clicked in Sasuke's head.

Sakura had an extra ordinary chakra control. Back when they were gennin she was the first to climb up the tree even before Naruto and himself had done it. She always excelled in anything that needed precise chakra control so to use her for a something like this was very much understandable. Never in his years has Sasuke even met anyone else which such ability to control chakra.

It infuriated both him and Naruto back then because she wasn't in any clan. She was a mediocre kunoichi with not much of talent for fighting.

And of course her ability to control chakra made her an excellent medical kunoichi and an apprentice for Tsunade, who was renown for her monstrous powers that needed the same kind of control Sakura has. Everything made so much sense now, but as he read through the files it seemed that the tests were going according to plans. Sakura's body was slowly and carefully adapting to the drug given to her.

To be able to be immune to acids and poisons she had to use chakra. To brings chakra on top of her skin as if to protect it. At the last page on bold letter was written that Sakura was un-cooperative, which was starting to slow the process. They couldn't get her to use her chakra to try the immunity. That would explain the abnormal bruising on her arm.

The sound of the door opening alerted Sasuke and he turned to look over his shoulder.

Karin peeked inside her hair a mess from sleeping and she was rubbing her eyes.

"Sasuke-kun? What are you doing here?" Her eyes zeroed in on the paper and her eyes widened.

"Y-you're reading through her files!" She pointed her finger at him in panic, "You can't do that!"

Sasuke turned back to the papers and activated his sharingan. Scanning though all of the pages in second he closed the files and dropped it back into the drawer.

"Kabuto is so going to kill me, now." Karin moaned in the background. She pulled on her hair and almost caused her glasses to drop from her eyes.

"Go back to sleep, Karin." Sasuke finally said something and dug through more of the cabinets. His eyes caught a sight of bottles that had IPE-4 written on the side of them and he placed them on the table. Karin was instantly next to him and grabbed his arm.

"What are you doing?!" She was horrified and Sasuke felt more than bothered. He pulled his arm away from Karin's grabbed her chin only to lock her in one of his genjutsus. Her eyes glassed over she swayed on her place.

Grabbing the bottles, he walked to the sink and dropped them in. All of them broke from the hit on the metal leaving glass shards all over the sink.

He had no idea what forced him to do this, but his instinct told him it was the right things to do. Returning to the file cabinet he grabbed Sakura's file and looked through all the others for more information on Sakura's experiment but found none. Throwing the file into the sink Sasuke took a breath in, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" The small fireball erupted from his lips and the fire ate away on the files and the drug.

Opening the tab, he let the water turn off the fire.

Next he went to Sakura's side and began trying the shackles open. Deciding not to use fire in case he burned Sakura, he walked to one of the drawers where he remembered he saw a few keys. He took the loop and walked back to the shackles. After a few tries he got all of them open. and he began pulling the EKG attachments off her chest and ribs, then her IV was gone and he took a band-aid on it.

Sasuke wasn't sure whether or not he should get rid of the tube inside her nose and after a moment of pondering he decided to leave it on just in case. He couldn't know how she ate or was she even able to eat at all. Removing the bag from the tube, Sasuke plugged the thing and carefully slipped his arm under Sakura's knees and back.

She didn't stir at all as he picked her up and left the lab.

The sound of Karin falling on to the floor was the only sound after that when Sasuke released his genjutsu on her.

* * *

_I have this weekly news thing on my profile if you're interested to see how I'm progressing with my writing. Go check that out if you want to know what I'm going to post next._

_Thanks for reviewers:_

ILoveSxS

Lady Rini

Waterlilly333

Uchiha Misaki

sasusaku dream

_and one _guest_._

_Leave a review! I'm still very unsure how people like this story since not so many have left a review._

_BTW, this will eventually get into the rhythm of the Naruto Shippuden, but of course with few changes along the way._

_\- Jakura_


	9. Chapter 9

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 9**

* * *

In the past two months, Sakura has never felt as comfortable as she was feeling right now. Lying on the stone bed was painful on your back at first, before your body just numbed to the stiff feeling of it. And the thin sheet given to her, by Karin when Kabuto nor Orochimaru wasn't around, was something to warm her up even more.

Since the Southern hideout was under the ground and under the sea for the most part, it could get pretty cold, and because it was only spring there wasn't much of a heat wave to warm the place up. And as Sakura's mind came more and more aware of the warm and cozy feeling, she began doubting more and more of its realness. Had she died? Did her body finally give up on all the torture?

If her body did give up, then what about Naruto? She wouldn't be able to find him and maybe get some help from him. Not that running away was an option since they were surrounded by water, and the likes of Sasuke would always catch her. When she had escaped, she had not predicted that using the tiny amount of her chakra to stay afloat was so exhausting. She was only able to run a little deeper into the woods before her body gave up on her.

All the forced testing and painful ways Kabuto and Karin experimented on her took their toll on her body.

At one point, she would have just wanted to give up. This whole thing was just pure bullshit. How can things like these happen to one person? What did she do to deserve experiences like these?

Probably any lesser shinobi would have given up already and maybe tried a suicide, but Sakura wasn't going to give up. Absolutely, not. She needed to fix her situation and do something about Konoha. Leaving it in the hands of those people was something she couldn't allow to happen. If it meant that she had to fight her way through to fix things, then that is what she would do.

As Sakura's mind and body became even more aware, she noticed that there were no beeping sounds that normally surrounded her and she was sleeping on her side. What was going on?

Her skin was still hurting but she was getting used to it slowly, but opening her eyes was a painful task especially after falling asleep. Most of the time she was under a drug induced sleep, because otherwise she would just stay awake and have a hard time falling asleep. If she wasn't sleeping, then her concentration wouldn't be on point and that is something Kabuto needed from her.

Instead of the brown ceiling she was so used to she saw a wall very close to her face and a white fabric covering the left side of her vision. Moving her head carefully she realized that it was a pillow.

Had Karin lost her mind? This was very much unusual behavior for the red headed kunoichi.

As she listened around the room silently and not moving at all, she heard a quiet breathing next to her. Biting down on her lip Sakura shifted around on to her back and to see where exactly she was. To her surprise, she was sleeping next to Sasuke.

Now she was even more puzzled. What had happened?

She remembered falling asleep or rather unconscious as she talked with Karin. That is the last recollection and nothing more. Sasuke had already left the room by then to go to his own devices, so why was she here?

Looking down at herself she took in the new clothes on her sweaty and ill looking body. If she wasn't so used to literally being seen naked by everyone she would have been horrified, because she doubted Karin changed her clothes. Even though, they were able to have a decent conversation with her neither liked the other very much.

That only leaves the option that Sasuke had changed her. Although she felt dirty and sweaty, the clean clothes were a nice comfort.

Deciding that she wanted answers, she thought about nudging her elbow to Sasuke's back, but it was better not to do that. She would much rather avoid any kind of contact with everyone as long as she was awake.

"Hey!" She instead said loudly.

Sasuke didn't wake up but she saw the small movement of his brows.

"Sasuke, wake up!" She said again. Talking felt like violating some sacred rule. You weren't supposed to be loud in a silent room where someone else was sleeping.

Her last words woke the man up and Sakura saw his jaw tighten.

"Shut up." He merely said and turned his back to her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Instead of shutting up Sakura decided to inquire more answers to her situation. "What did you do? Where's Karin?"

"You worried about her?" He asked with the most disinterest voice Sakura had ever heard.

"No, but you're an asshole!"

Sasuke huffed and sprang up to sit on the edge of the bed looking over his shoulder at her.

"Can't you just sleep?" He glared down at her easily.

"I've been sleeping for the past few months enough. I want some answers." Sakura fired back.

"At morning, you and I are going to leave back to Konoha." Sasuke said and got up. He was not wearing a shirt and Sakura instantly averted her eyes away from him. Even though, she was used to being naked, it didn't mean that she was used to seeing other's naked.

But the only thing she knew was that she wasn't going to go back to Konoha.

Sasuke walked through a door and closed it after him. Where did he go?

Her questions were answered as she heard the sound of shower coming on, but as she waited for him to step in and the sounds to become different she didn't hear anything. After a couple of minutes Sasuke came back and had a towel in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked with an edge to her voice as Sasuke seemed to be walking towards her.

"Y-you can't!" She yelled and her voice cracked as Sasuke scooped her up with agility that surprised her. She was so shocked by his actions that the pain around her body did not register in her mind right away. But after it did, it was like being burned from the places that were pressured by Sasuke's touch.

Her nerve endings overreacted to all kinds of changes and touches with such ferocity that her whole body almost went into a shock each time. Especially being touched by another human was the most painful thing. People had their own bacterial flora on their skin and as it mixed with hers, it caused a reaction within her skin to destroy the change. It was the same thing with the acids.

Her skin reacted and she couldn't help it at all. Everything hurt and she had to use the small amount of chakra within her to alleviate the pain. Sasuke didn't seem to care about her body going tense and her biting her lip with a cry of pain as he carried her to the bathroom.

"N-n-no, don't!" She begged him as they neared the shower. "Please! Sasuk-!" It was like a rain of needles fell on top of her and she held on to Sasuke's upper body for dear life. Keeping her eyes open was impossible as her body started the response once again with full force. She could feel her chakra surrounding her body and skin to try and cover it from the water.

The overflow of sensations was even worse than it was when Kabuto poured acid on her arms. And it was painful because she couldn't control her chakra at all at that moment. It just made its way on top of her skin to stop the pain. That is how Orochimaru had planned it. To force the skin to feel pain with every touch so that her chakra evolved.

Before she knew it, Sakura was grasping for breath from the strain of the forced chakra use. She felt the tiniest pit of chakra left in her disperse as she once again succumbed into darkness.

* * *

Sasuke felt conflicted.

He wasn't sure whether or not he should take Sakura back to Konoha. What had caused Sakura to not return there was still a mystery for him and as the time went by, he came to conclusion it had something to do with danger. He couldn't be sure if that was the reason. Did she fear for her life or something else?

After she was fallen unconscious in the shower, Sasuke had quickly taken her clothes off and washed most of her. She smelled of medicine and acids that Sasuke didn't know the names of, and not to forget the sweat.

Karin probably never allowed her to shower or wash herself at all.

This whole situation just frustrated him. Was it that hard to let a weak girl to take care of her necessities.

Loud banging on the door to his room alerted Sasuke from his troubled thoughts.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin's voice was muffled as she yelled for him.

"Sasuke-kun! Where is she!?" She almost screamed and banged on the door even more. He had locked it from the inside because of this reason. The last thing he wanted was for her to barge in and give him even bigger a headache.

Looking over his shoulder at Sakura, Sasuke kept his eyes on her. Her hollow cheeks and the dark circles around her eyes. He needed to get her out of here as soon as possible, but he couldn't take her to Anako. That would be one of the first places Kabuto and Orochimaru would look for her. And he doubted that Orochimaru would let her go that easily since his experiment had been successful so far, but he couldn't leave her here either.

"I sent a massage to Orochimaru-sama! He's not going to be happy."

"Like I care," Sasuke muttered more to himself as he stood up from the bed. He had a towel wrapped around his waist as he went to pick up some clean clothes. Sakura was still completely nude under the blanket and he needed to find her something better to wear.

Unfortunately, he didn't have anything else except the clothes he had given her before taking her to the shower. In all honesty, he hadn't even thought of giving her a bath, since she obviously was in so much pain when something touched her. But she didn't smell very good and it was annoying him. He couldn't sleep next to someone like that.

Grabbing another pair of trousers from the drawer Sasuke pulled them on and headed for the door. Karin was just about to bang her fist on the door again, as Sasuke opened it. She missed her momentum and stumbled towards the door. Quickly she gathered herself and positioned her glasses back into place.

"Where. Is. She." Karin seethed. This must be the first time she's been so angry with him.

"Go back to the lab, Karin." Sasuke said and pulled the door closed. As he side-stepped Karin, she stomped her foot and headed for the door. She barely got the door opened when a black snake hissed at her. She slammed the door quickly back closed and glared at Sasuke.

"You can't do this, Sasuke!"

"I wasn't asking your opinion." He glared back and continued walking forward. Karin's light steps soon followed him.

"Orochimaru will not be pleased with this. He is going to freak out. You destroyed everything he has worked for." She continued her rambling and did her best to stay after Sasuke. "Where are you going?" She finally asked as he stopped right in front of Karin's room.

She looked completely baffled with her mouth agape until a large blush spread all over her face.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" She squealed.

"I need clothes for her."

It was like he had thrown a bucket of cold water on her. The blush disappeared and she crossed her arms.

"Absolutely, not."

"Either you're going to get her some clothes, now, or I'm going to go and get them." Sasuke wasn't giving her much of a choice. It would be a dream come true to have Sasuke in her room, but the fact that he just wanted clothes for that test subject, infuriated Karin. Biting her lower lip, she sneaked quickly into the room and took less than a minute, before she appeared with a shirt and a pair of shorts.

Sasuke didn't even thank her, as he grabbed them and began his walk back to his room.

Sakura had not move an inch since he left and as he walked toward her he felt the snakes around the room. He wasn't just going to leave her in a room that he couldn't lock from the outside. He didn't doubt for a moment that Karin would try to barge in and take Sakura back to the lab. Sometimes her loyalty for the Snake Sannin was bothersome. It went often over the top and caused more annoyance than anything else.

Karin hardly even used her own brain and told her own opinions since she was so focused on pleasing her master.

Sakura's body was shivering from the water that was still left on her skin, when Sasuke pulled her up to lean into him. Pulling the shirt on was the easiest thing but the shorts were another. Covering her private parts Sasuke revealed her legs and pulled the shorts on without looking at all.

Feeling the exhaustion surround himself, he laid down next to her and covered himself with the same blanket. She was cold next to him. Not to mention tiny. When she woke up he needed to get her something to eat.

How annoying.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, give back the girl." Kabuto sighed, leaning against the counter behind.

Sasuke had arrived later that morning to find Kabuto waiting for him in the lab with Karin by his side. Karin had just stood on the side lines, not once saying anything as Kabuto tried to get Sasuke to bring back Sakura. She had a smug loon on her face as she waited for Kabuto to tell Sasuke to bring the girl back.

"We are so close to a breakthrough here, and you're slowing us down."

"No."

"Sasuke-kun," Kabuto rubbed his temples. "Orochimaru-sama is not pleased with this. He would have come here by himself, but he had other matters to attend to."

Sasuke didn't say anything and instead just stood by the door. He was not going to let them get to Sakura again. This whole thing was stopping right now. Sakura was not going to be the subject to Orochimaru's testing anymore.

"I think you've gone too far with this," he finally started, "she's already reacting to things the way you want her to, so what's the point in continuing to torture her even more."

Smirk stretched to Kabuto's face as he shrugged his shoulders, "There's always room for improvement. And what's it to you? She is your former teammate, though."

"The only thing hindering your process is her declining to use her chakra at all." Sasuke commented and Kabuto's smirk fell off, "She doesn't want to do anything you want and that's the reason why you continue this. You're trying to break her will."

"Konoha's shinobis are very troublesome." Kabuto muttered to himself and the suggestive tone didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke. He knew very well that Orochimaru thought that way, too. Sasuke wasn't an easy apprentice. He had his own mind and way of doing things, and if something didn't please him or he didn't benefit from it, he wasn't going to do it.

And Sakura being succumbed to this kind of treatment did not please him at all.

Sasuke wasn't like those mindless and back boneless followers Orochimaru surrounded himself with. He had a goal that he was going to do anything for, and nothing was going to stop him. If Orochimaru thought even for a once that Sasuke was just going to give into him, then he was wrong.

"Sasuke-kun-"

"She's coming back with me." He had finally made his mind.

"What?" Kabuto looked completely baffled and the stoic look on Karin's face turned into complete utter surprise.

"I'm not going to leave her here. She's coming back to Oto with me."

"She's a test, an experiment." The older man said and pushed off the counter. "She needs to stay here under Karin's watch."

"If she come back to Oto with me, you can watch over her." Sasuke said and turned around. "We'll be ready in an hour to leave." He wasn't about to give Kabuto any change to fight against him. If he wanted to see where Sakura's "abilities" reached than he had to let Sasuke take her with him. Sasuke wasn't going to leave her here. Not a chance.

And since taking her to Konoha was out of the question, this was the only way to go.

Sasuke had no other option but to take her with him this time. Hopefully, when the time comes, she would be a great asset to his needs. He just needed to make sure that the right time was upon them when he acted.

Sasuke made his way back to his room to find Sakura already awake. She was just lying on the bed on her back staring up at the ceiling as two black snakes slowly crawled over her legs and stomach. Her body tensed each time from the pressure, but she seemed in control. The snakes hissed and sizzled as they rose to look in Sasuke's direction. He was mildly surprised that Sakura wasn't bothered by their presence almost at all, she seemed very uncaring of them.

As Sasuke stepped further into the room, she finally rose to a seat and looked up at him.

"What's going on?" Her quiet voice asked. Her hair was a mess and she looked like someone who had slept two days straight. They needed to get her fixed when they reached Oto. She couldn't go around looking like a beggar.

"We're going to Oto, so eat." He pointed at the bowl on the nightstand. He had brought it for her before he had left to see Kabuto.

Sakura swallowed hard and turned her head away from the steaming bowl.

"I'm not hungry."

"You're on the verge of dehydration, as a medic you should be aware of that, too. Stop complaining and eat." It was going to be a long journey back to Oto and she needed to be able to stand the travel. Soup was something everyone ate when they weren't feeling their best.

Wincing she reached for the bowl, her fingers trembling. Sweat began instantly gathering on her forehead as she took the bowl. Sasuke took note of the tensing muscles in her neck and activated his sharingan. She was willingly using her chakra to stop the reaction. Sakura knew how to control the reaction of her skin better than he had thought.

She ate quietly with the snakes still roaming over her lap and dwindling their way up and over her bend arms. Sasuke waited patiently in a chair with his eyes closed. What a better moment to meditate, it wasn't like he was in any kind of hurry.

* * *

"Danzō," Koharu said as she stepped into the council room.

It was almost mid-day and she had been thinking all night and morning. Something was bothering her too much and she needed to do something about her worries as soon as possible. Her mind aching and back bend she made her way closer to the sitting area.

"Koharu? What is it?" Danzō raised his one eyebrow that wasn't covered by the bandages. He was sitting on a couch with a tea cup in his hands as he enjoyed his moment of peace.

"I need you to send someone after the Haruno-girl." Koharu replied and sat down opposite of the other council member.

"She's dead, Koharu. You don't need to worry about that anymore." Danzō shook his head and sipped his tea.

"I don't trust that."

"You don't trust the Root?"

"Your Root member is dead, and there were no signs of that stupid girl. If my visions are right than she is still alive, and still very much a threat to us." Koharu fire back and grabbed one of the cup from the table.

"I don't understand why we should go this far to just eliminate a simple girl because of a vision you think you saw." The older man didn't seem bothered at all.

"All Uchiha need to die. She needs to die." Koharu huffed, "If it was only for me to decide, I would have already eliminated Uchiha Sasuke long before things came to this. Now he's on the run and that girl could very much be helping him."

"I repeat myself again, Koharu. What could a simple girl like Haruno Sakura do with that Uchiha boy."

"I want the whole Uchiha line dead. There's no need for them to live. There's no need for the to reproduce."

"What about Uchiha Itachi?" That was a question on its own.

"He eliminated his own clan. Do you actually think he would be the one to revive it, too?" All the council members were aware that Itachi was a powerful Uchiha. Probably one of the strongest there has ever been, but they also knew that he was ill. No one knew for sure what was causing the illness, but it was rumors about him using too much of his sharingan.

"He's the last person to try that. His already weighted by the guilt of the extinction of his own clan."

"Probably." Danzō sighed. "I'll let three Root members to go look for her. I'm sure they'll find something or at least a rotting body."

"I knew, you would understand, Danzō. We don't need any more of those Uchihas walking around our village or even in this world."

* * *

_Another chapter on time!_

_Thanks for reviewers:_

Lady Rini

Rui

Reapers Masquerade

ILoveSxS

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A Shadow Away

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_and three _guests_._

_One of you were worried about me following very closely to the shippuuden story line. I won't be going through it from Naruto's point of view like the anime/manga. This story is going to focus on Sasuke's side of things. So no this won't be any ultra long story. :)_

_Leave a review! I love to hear what you guys think about this story and what are your thoughts._

_\- Jakura_


	10. Chapter 10

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 10**

* * *

Sakura was unable to make the travel to Oto on her own. She could only make it over the sea and little bit on land before her strength gave out on her. Her legs were shaking and her breathing was hard when Sasuke once again scooped her up.

Kabuto only stood on a branch observing the two. He wasn't happy that Sasuke had taken Sakura with them, and since Sasuke had destroyed all the data they had collected on the girl, getting back on track was going to be a struggle. Not to forget that Sasuke seemed to not like the idea of Kabuto being anywhere near Sakura. Sasuke's pace was so haste to stay away from Kabuto that he ran in front of the older shinobi, making sure that he wasn't coming too close.

Sakura's fingers were squeezing Sasuke's shirt underneath the cloak he wore as the breeze felt cold on their skins. Her other hand was holding her own cloak tightly to herself in attempt to preserve more warmth. She was blacking out most of the journey and she couldn't keep up where exactly they were.

Only when a warm blast of air surrounded the space between her face and Sasuke's neck she finally came around. Sasuke was walking normally and it was pitch dark everywhere. She could only faintly see Sasuke's face in the darkness.

"Orochimaru-sama, would like to see you, right now, Sasuke-kun." Kabuto's voice echoed in the empty hallways.

Sasuke didn't reply, only followed after the grey-haired man until they reached a set of double doors. They walked in to a room lit up with torches and huge columns. Unconsciously Sakura glued herself tighter to Sasuke's form.

"Sasuke-kun, you're back!" Sakura instantly recognized the raspy voice of Orochimaru. His form appeared from behind one of the columns.

Sakura took notice of his appearance. His hands were draped on his sides and Sakura remembered the jutsu the Third Hokage inflicted on him.

"And our little jail bird, too." Orochimaru's eyes landed on Sakura's body and she turned her eyes away from him. She didn't want to give him any attention or time of the day. He was the reason why she was like this.

If she had the energy, she would bash his face so hard that he wouldn't be able to recover at all. That smug look on his face only infuriated more.

"Don't look at me like that, Sakura-chan," Orochimaru drawled and chuckled, "I gave you a gift. You should be happy."

Sakura bit the insides of her cheeks to keep herself silent. It wouldn't do her any good since she wasn't sure on whose side Sasuke was. She was still surrounded by three people she couldn't trust.

"Orochimaru," Sasuke's voice was tight and tense. He seemed annoyed with the way he huffed his teacher's name. "What do you want?"

"I heard you destroyed her data. If this some sort of a rebellion, then I think you should consider your actions better, Sasuke-kun."

"Hn."

"Always so rebellious." Orochimaru chuckled.

Sakura glanced up at Sasuke's bored expression. She was glad that Sasuke wasn't completely enchanted by Orochimaru. Everyone knew he only wanted Sasuke's body so it was odd why Sasuke would even risk being trained by Orochimaru. But guess everyone had their own plans and motives, it wasn't like she could say anything about the situation.

She didn't want to return to Konoha for her own reasons, just like Sasuke had his own reasons.

"Bring her to my lab tomorrow morning." Orochimaru smiled and turned to Kabuto, "Shall we?"

No other words were exchanged as Kabuto followed Orochimaru out of the room. Sasuke stared at their backs silently while Sakura observed his reaction.

"What is he going to do?" Sakura finally asked after a moment of silence.

Sasuke's eyes flickered to her.

"I don't know."

"I'm not going to let him test me anymore," Sakura found her voice becoming more urgent, "I won't let him." She was shaking her head and fighting against the pain in her body. She was already exhausted as it is and she just wanted a moment of peace. Was it too much to ask?

"I won't let him." Sasuke's stern words surprised Sakura to silence. She bit down on her chapped lip as Sasuke finally turned to walk away from the room. Her fingers were digging into his shirt as he stopped in front of a room.

Sakura didn't say anything to him as he laid her down on the bed and pulled the covers on top.

"Get some rest. I'll bring you something to eat."

Sasuke's back turned to her as he started to leave to room, except he wasn't leaving her alone in it. In the dim lighting, she saw the two snakes slithering from his sleeves on to the floor just as the door closed.

Soon her body felt the familiar weight of the snakes on top of her body as she fell asleep from exhaustion.

* * *

This time Sasuke was making her walk. Her legs shook like leaves as she tried to keep up with his pace and she tried taking support from the walls. Sasuke was merely regarding her with silent interest as he did nothing to help her to move.

Sakura glared at him each time he lifted that dark brow of his and made her legs mover forward. She still had almost no chakra at all, but slowly she felt it returning since she wasn't drained from it the past few days. The food Sasuke had brought her gave her energy to even dare to move without any help. She wasn't even going to ask Sasuke for help; she was going to make it to the lab alone.

She had tried to pursue Sasuke in not taking her there, but it was futile.

Neither had any idea what Orochimaru had planned and neither were they in hurry to get to their destination. Sasuke was oddly patient with her and Sakura would have expected him to lash out on her already.

As she finally almost stumbled on her feet, she saw Sasuke making a move towards her, but she nearly yelled, "No!"

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks crossing his arms.

"I want to do this on my own. I don't need help."

He shook his head and turned to face the hallway as they slowly made their way to the lab.

Kabuto was writing something passionately in the corner and completely ignored the two teenagers in the room, whereas Orochimaru instantly greeted them.

"I've been waiting for you, Sasuke-kun, Sakura-chan. Please take a seat." He offered a pair of stools but Sasuke remained standing. Sakura was about to do the same if it wasn't for the icy glare from the brooding Uchiha. How he somehow knew what was going through her head slightly amazed her.

Sakura's muscles cried from relief as she sat down. The stools hard surface tingled through her skin and caused the reaction of her chakra immediately. Every hard surface was like she was being punched by something. Biting her cheek Orochimaru just plain observed her.

"Does it hurt much?" He asked after a moment of staring Sakura.

Sakura didn't nod or anything. She would rather dig her own eyes out than give any kind of answer to him.

A smirk stretched on his face, "I must say, you've exceeded my expectations, Sakura-chan. I never imagined your chakra control to be this strong. All the other test subject had already died due to the excessive drainage of their chakra. You on the other hand fight the reaction and are able to hold on to the tiniest amount of chakra that is able to keep you alive. I am very much impressed."

Kabuto had finally come out of the corner and was standing next to the table separating Sakura from the snake sannin. She somehow got a very bad feeling and glanced at Kabuto, who was hiding his right arm behind his back.

"What are you doing?" She finally asked him and Kabuto's lip twitched.

"Nothing." He merely shrugged.

The slight spike in Sasuke's chakra made Sakura turn to him to see his sharingan activated.

"Don't even think about it Kabuto." Sasuke growled.

_He is hiding something behind his back_, Sakura thought.

"Kabuto, put it down." Orochimaru suddenly said, but Kabuto did not do as he was told.

"We can't let this test go waste." Kabuto said instead.

"It's not going to waste, my dear Kabuto. As you can see, the test seems to have been a success. She can already control the reaction." Orochimaru explained, "She's just been deceiving Karin."

"Karin is a very capable kunoichi, she would-" Kabuto started.

"Ah! But so is Tsunade-sama's apprentice. Tsunade-sama would never choose just anyone to be under her teaching."

Sakura had no time to do anything except gasp out loud when Kabuto suddenly reached for her hand. He pulled her arm on the table and threw some liquid on to her skin. A panic seized Sakura for a moment as she felt the burn of an acid before she focused her chakra. With the remaining chakra she had, she molded it on top of her skin and stopped the burn of the acid.

Sasuke was already in action as he pulled Kabuto easily away from her and pointed his kusanagi to the grey-haired man's neck. Kabuto's hands were raised as he backed away from the scene with Sasuke following closely.

Orochimaru didn't do anything except stare at Sakura's arm. The acid started cascading down and onto the table as if being resisted. Sakura's abilities were certainly exceeding their expectations.

He tapped his chin, "I must say, I am surprised. It is done." with that said he got up and gave Sakura one of his devious smiled.

"Come on, Kabuto, we need to check on Kimimaro."

Kabuto backed away from the room and Sasuke went back to Sakura's side. He took Sakura's arm in his hand and turned it from side to side. There were few burned spots on her skin but nothing major. Sakura flinched at his touch and her arm started to tremble.

Orochimaru had succeeded. There was no need to Sakura anymore. He didn't need to test on her anymore. Otherwise he would have probably tried to force her into submission and continue the experimentation.

"Let's go eat." He said finally and Sakura sighed in annoyance.

"That's all I do!" She was tired of just eating.

"It'll help with restoring your chakra and gets you into better shape much faster." Sasuke snapped back at her pulling her from the stool.

"I'm not even hungry." Sakura grumbled but got silence from her companion.

It was very bothersome that Sasuke just controlled her life.

"You're not my parent." She said back at him which caused him to stop and turn back to her.

"No, I'm not. But since you don't want to go back to Konoha, you don't leave me no choice."

"Then just dump me in some village and I'll do just fine!" Sasuke stared at her as if it was the worst idea in the whole world.

"What?" Sakura pouted.

Sasuke shook his head and started their way back out of the lab. This time he was not allowing her a chance to walk on her own and instead he was holding on to her arm to give her more balance. In Sasuke's presence, Sakura felt like a child. He literally controlled every aspect of her life and just because she didn't want to go back to Konoha.

"You do understand that I'm going to get killed the moment I step my foot through the gates of Konoha." Sakura said with a more leveled tone.

"Hn," Sasuke hummed and she took it as a yes. "Who exactly is trying to kill you then?" He suddenly asked and Sakura was surprised. It wasn't Sasuke style to go asking questions concerning her at all.

"I'm not completely sure."

"Then how do you know you're going to get killed?" Sasuke asked again.

"The Konoha shinobi I was with tried to kill me before you found me in the snow."

Sasuke's brows furrowed.

"What?" It was now his time to look surprised.

"I've seen him around the village since I was little, and he had the familiar fighting style of a Konoha shinobi. I also saw a secret mission scroll he had on him before he attacked me." Sakura explained. It wouldn't hurt to tell Sasuke everything. Now he seemed much more interested in her situation.

"What did the scroll say?"

"To eliminate me."

"To eliminate you?" Sasuke asked with a light tone as if he found the fact humorous.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know. The scroll had a formal seal of the elders on it." Sasuke looked bothered for a moment as he thought about her words.

* * *

"Get in the shower." Sasuke said with a stern tone.

"No!"

"Sakura, I'm not fighting you." He ignored her complaints and grabbed the towel again that she had thrown on the bed.

"It hurts! I don't want to!" She had curved herself in to a ball on the bed as Sasuke did his best to get her to shower.

She's been locked inside the room for four days already and not once has she gone to shower. Showering was like being shoved into the molting flames and she would much rather not do it. It hurt since the water fell as drops all over her and using her chakra was hard all over her body at the same time.

"You haven't showered in almost a week. Stop being a baby and go." Sasuke was still as calm as ever but Sakura knew his patience was running low. He's been trying to convince her the past two days, but so far she's been the one to win every argument with him storming out of the room.

Sakura only bushed herself further into the bed and wall to get as far away from Sasuke as possible. It was already getting much easier to touch objects that were not living creatures. Her back didn't have a reaction at all as she pushed against it. However, it was a whole another thing when someone touched her.

Sasuke finally growled under his breath and stretched to grab her. Activating her chakra, she pulled back from him making him stumble on to the bed. These were the moments Sasuke wished she was still drained from her chakra. Everything would be much easier and simple, if she didn't have ability to literally throw his body though a cement wall.

Sakura avoided looking in to Sasuke's eyes the moment she pulled him on to the bed. She knew he had activated his sharingan to get her to comply, but he was not going to give up this easily. She might be an expert when it came to genjutsu, but Sasuke was fast and he was going to get her into the shower even if it enraged her. His arm stretched he tilted her head catching her in his illusion and grabbing her from the waist at the same time.

Throwing her over his shoulder, he quickly walked into the bathroom. The shower was already on so he dropped her and just as he placed her under the water she came back to reality. She shrieked from surprise and tried to push past Sasuke, but he wasn't letting go of her.

They were both under the water in seconds and Sakura literally had no other option except bite her cheek and try to snuggle as close to Sasuke's towering build. The bathroom in this hideout was much smaller than in the Southern one and Sasuke covered the entire way to the rest of the bathroom. She would much rather be touched by him than the water.

"Relax and focus," Sasuke commanded her and grabbed a bottle of soap for her.

Sasuke pulled away from her leaving her alone in the bathroom. It took a while of just standing under the water to get used to the droplets, but after she somehow could tolerate the pain she quickly took her wet clothes off and washed herself. Turning the tap off has never been more satisfying. Her skin was red but not from the water as she quickly dried the rest of her skin.

There was a shirt paired with trousers, on top of the sink. Grabbing them Sakura got dressed as fast as she could.

Sasuke was waiting for her in the bedroom putting the dark purple cloth around his waist and tying it up. He glanced at her over his shoulder and nodded for the bed. Sakura grabbed the jacket and followed Sasuke out of the room as he closed the room behind them.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked as Sasuke put on his cloak.

"Training."

* * *

_This is not a long one, but an update nonetheless._

_Thanks for reviewers:_

Uchiha Misaki

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Emily da great

ILoveSxS

Lady Rini

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_and two _guests_._

_Leave a review! They really make my day and show me if I'm going in the right direction with this story!_

_It has been a hectic week for me because of my clinical training, but I've been doing my best._

_\- Jakura_


	11. Chapter 11

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 11**

* * *

The weather was nice. Spring had literally bashed its way in in less than a week, and the warm weather was nice on one's skin. Sakura sat on the rock with her eyes closed soaking in as much of the sun as she could. It warmed her skin and made her feel a bit better.

There were no signs of wind or even clouds in the sky. Sakura felt quite content. Well, as long as she could drown away the sound of Sasuke training near her. She was merely meditating and trying to get used to her own skin, whereas he had his kusanagi out and was practicing with it. He didn't make much sound luckily, but the slow sound of his boots scraping against the rocks was the only sign that he was there.

The past week Sakura has trailed after the Uchiha like a lost puppy and, so far, he didn't seem to mind. Sakura was impressed that Sasuke could train almost hours on end without even breaking a sweat or then he was just slacking. But slacking didn't fit in with Sasuke.

And as she opened her eyes to peek at him down at the lower boulder, she could evidently see him training.

Kusanagi didn't even make a sound as it moved through the air with Sasuke's swift and elegant movements. Truly its masters weapon.

Orochimaru and Kabuto had been away from the hideout the last two days and even though Sakura insisted that she stays indoors, Sasuke had other plans. He wouldn't let her to stay alone inside the hideout, but when it came to outside she could go freely as she wishes. Not that she knew where to go, so she mostly stayed close to Sasuke.

She still had no way to get help from anyone else except Sasuke and, so far, Sakura has come up with nothing. Thinking of a plan to try to inform some of the closest people to her was hard since she was sure the Elders were constantly making sure that she wouldn't get near Konoha. It wouldn't even surprise her if there were someone sent after her because the Elders probably didn't think that she was dead.

So far nothing had breached the serenity that surrounded her ever since Orochimaru left the hideout. Sakura had no idea for how long they would be away, but she was glad that no one would try to take her at least for a while.

Yesterday she was able to finally heal the burns given to her by the acid thrown on her arm by Kabuto. It was a huge step for her to be able to do it by herself, because it meant that she was getting better. Her body might look like a starved skeleton for now, but she had her chakra slowly coming back. And her hunger was increasing fast. Normally she would only eat two or three times a day, but now she's been eating at least four small meals.

Even Sasuke seemed satisfied with her progress. He might not talk much with her and mostly grunts for her to be either quicker or eat more, but Sasuke seemed to be someone she could trust.

Sasuke seemed aloof at times and sometimes he acted as if she wasn't there, but she wasn't that stupid. His actions were subtle, but she saw them. The way he slightly turned his head to make sure that she was following him or the way he used more of his senses when she ventured further away from him. He was constantly on to her and Sakura was thankful for that.

It wasn't because she wanted to a damsel-in-distress, but rather because she knew that her body was still recovering. Since they were in Oto, she didn't doubt for a second that a nukenin would attack her.

The brown color of her hair had slowly started to fade away and Sakura's familiar pink was already visible. Everyone would know that she was Haruno Sakura. There probably was no one else with a vibrant colored hair as she did in the whole world, and she had already gotten fame as the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage.

"Sakura," Sasuke's voice cut through Sakura's sun bathing and she looked down at the ledge. Sasuke was pointing behind her and she turned to see black clouds slowly moving towards them. A bright flash lit up the clouds and Sakura realized that it was a storm coming.

"Oh, great," she breathed and got up.

Sasuke had already begun walking towards the waterfall at the back of the lake. Sakura followed him on the upper ledge, not keen on getting wet at all from the upcoming rain. And she had thought that this day would be nice and sunny.

The lake was in a pit of sorts. It was at the bottom of a valley that consisted of a huge tall rock walls.

Jumping down from her ledge Sakura landed few steps behind Sasuke. They slowly walked towards the cave entrance hidden behind the waterfall. Sakura shivered from the moisture and the spraying drops of water and quickly walked after Sasuke.

It was Sasuke's hiding place of sorts. The place was covered by bamboo curtains from the entrance of the cave. There was a wooden platform at the end that could easily fit ten people and the place had torches on the platform. Since no natural light came inside Sasuke lit up the torches. The flames would also help warm up the place. The stone ground was uneven and you had to look where you were walking.

Sakura hopped on to the high platform and sat down on the blanket laying there while grabbing another one to cover her legs with. Only two days ago had Sasuke showed this place to her, even though they've been coming to the waterfall since they arrived in Oto. It was kind of comfy, but also very wet place, but what can you expect from a place that was inside a cave and behind a water fall.

The sound of the roaring waterfall covered the rain, but you could still hear the thunder that begun rolling over them.

Sasuke leaned to the wall next to her and closed his eyes.

They didn't have much to talk about at all. Sasuke wasn't the type to ask question and would rather be in silence than initiate a small talk of any kind.

Sakura, on the other hand, was getting used to being around the brooding Uchiha and she craved to talk to someone.

"Sasuke?"

"Hn." He grunted, but Sakura took it as a sign to talk.

"What has it been like to you?"

Sakura's question caused him to open his eyes and look at her, "What?"

"I mean, did Orochimaru test on you, too?"

Sasuke's face stayed passive, "Yes, and no."

"What kind of an answer is that?" She asked again and crossed her arms. Sasuke had leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed.

"Immunity to most poisons." He finally said and Sakura's eyes widened.

"H-how did they do that to you?"

"In taking small amounts," Sasuke shrugged.

Sakura huffed as she leaned back against the wall.

"He's a creep." She mumbled and pursed her lips. Trying to not think about everything that Orochimaru has done Sakura shook her head and stared at one of the flames. Thinking about the Snake Sannin made her sick to her stomach. She didn't even want to know what had happened to the other test subjects before her, who were subjected to the same drug she had been injected with.

The pain and suffering was agonizing.

Relaxing and concentrating was making things easier for her, but a contact with anything organic still hurt. Sasuke, so far, has avoided touching her at all cost and she's been willing to take a shower every other day. Showering wasn't as bad as touching another person was.

The cave suddenly shook from the strength of the thunder.

Sakura closed her eyes. It seemed almost unnatural to her. In the cave, everything seemed to be ten times worse since everything echoed easily. Tough the waterfall hid most of the sounds.

She needed to get her mind somewhere else.

"Will you help me?" She suddenly asked from Sasuke.

"With what?" He grumbled back.

"To help me get used to touching other people. Please."

"Sakura." He sighed clearly annoyed by her request.

"I'm already used to your snakes! I need to get used to human contact, too! And you're the only one around here."

"You should have gone back to Konoha, then."

"You know, I can't."

Shaking his hand annoyed Sasuke moved off the wall and turned to sit towards Sakura. She instantly scooted off the wall, too, and in to a better position. Sasuke was offering his hand to her and she gently grabbed it. He had already closed his eyes and Sakura felt his calming presence surround her. He was meditating and ignoring her at the same time.

Sakura's palm tingled with tiny needles as she focused all her energy to it. Pushing the effect out of her skin and controlling the chakra that tried to force its way upwards was getting easier.

They were like that until the storm had passed over the lake. It was an hour and Sakura was sweating from the effort she was putting in. Sasuke had slid his palm further up on her wrist a while ago, and that was when it became hard. Your hands were much easier to control since Sakura was a medical shinobi, but your wrists were a whole another thing.

Her brows were low and she was sure Sasuke was staring at her. She didn't want to give up yet. Pushing and pushing herself further until she couldn't do anything more, Sakura pulled her arm away from him and collapsed on to her back while breathing hard.

* * *

Sakura was sitting opposite of Sasuke the next day. They were eating dinner in the hideout and her hands were shaking. She had to use her left hand to balance her right hand to be able to use her chopsticks. Luckily Sasuke didn't comment on the clumsy way of eating at all or she would have probably tried smashing his head in to the wall. It was already embarrassing enough.

They had once again practiced the skin-on-skin contact and she felt depleted from her chakra.

The door to their left opened and startled Sakura that the piece of meat on her chopsticks fell back on to the plate. Sakura sighed in annoyance and glared towards the door.

Kabuto slipped into the room with a smirk on his face.

"Sasuke-kun, Orochimaru-sama has a mission for you." He said and came to a stop next to the table. Kabuto had a scroll in his hand that he offered to Sasuke.

Sasuke read through the contents and give one of his icy glares at the gray-haired man.

"You do anything and you'll regret it." He said and got up from the table. "Sakura," he addressed her, "go to the room, now."

"Why?" Sakura looked unsure. Was Sasuke going to leave her alone with these people?

Instead of answering her question Sasuke was already leaving the room and Sakura had to run, in order to keep up with his pace. Kabuto did not follow them and Sakura breathed in relief.

"What's going on, Sasuke?" She asked again as Sasuke opened the door to their room. They've been sleeping in the same room for the past week and Sasuke had brought a futon few days ago for him to sleep on.

"I'll be gone for a few days. I don't want you to leave the room at all." He finally said and grabbed kusanagi from leaning against the bed.

"You're leaving me here with these two? Sasuke you can't do that!" A panic started to seize her with the mere idea of having to be alone with Kabuto and Orochimaru. She was still chakra depleted from their practice few hours ago and there was no way she could protect herself. Even though Orochimaru said that the experiment with her was finish, she was not going to be that stupid to trust the man.

There was no way she was going to stay here without Sasuke.

"Sakura, calm down." Sasuke grumbled and pulled at the sleeve of her shirt avoiding touching her skin. Sakura didn't realize that she was pulling at her hair in attempt to understand everything.

His eyes sought hers and she stared at him with fear, "Stay in this room. Do not leave anywhere, okay?"

Sakura nodded like a robot.

"I'll come back as soon as I can." His words didn't reassure her at all and she couldn't do anything as he left through the door.

Left standing in the middle of the tiny bedroom, Sakura felt lost. The idea that Kabuto could come inside the room any second was frightening. Quickly she scanned the room and her eyes zeroed on the dresser.

Luckily she didn't need any chakra to move the thing and she made a quick work at it. In few seconds the dresser was blocking the door and it gave tiny bit of relief to her. It might not stop Kabuto completely, but it would do the trick of slowing him down if she was asleep.

She backed away, not once letting her gaze waver from the door, and sat down on to the bed. Carefully she laid down and stared at the door.

It might have been minutes or hours before exhaustion got the better of her, and she fell asleep.

Sakura woke up with a start. Her heart pounded inside her chest and her head was spinning. She was sure someone had banged on the door.

Waiting in complete silence, Sakura stared at the door controlling her breathing and squeezing the life out of the blanket on her body. Kabuto had to be coming for her, she was so sure of it. She could feel the needle being poked inside her vein and Karin starting the infusion for the liquid.

Suddenly a lump formed in her throat and she had to cough. It was an overwhelming feeling to be having these things around her. She tried remembering that none of the images in her head were not true. There was no needle in her vein and there was no tube going into the stomach. She was just lying on Sasuke's bed waiting for him, and no one had banged on the door.

She was completely alone.

No one was threatening her.

No one was coming for her.

She just had to wait for Sasuke to come back.

What if he didn't come back?

* * *

"Sakura."

"Sakura."

"What?" she mumbled.

"Sakura, open the door."

"What door?"

She curled further into herself and pulled the blanket closer.

"Sakura!" The voice said a bit louder and it was followed by loud banging.

Sakura was pulled out of her deep slumber as she sat up so fast that her head swam from the sudden movement. Her heart pounded once again and she looked around the dark room. Nothing.

Another set of bangs on the door made her scoot back on the bed and stare intently at the door. Everything was so muddled up. Her mind still sluggish and slow from being asleep, she couldn't even comprehend to use her senses to see who was behind the door.

"Sakura! Are you in there?" Came Sasuke's familair voice.

Out of pure relief she jumped from the bed and pushed the dresser away.

The door opened from the outside and for a moment Sakura was blinded by the light coming from the hall.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked startled as Sakura wrapped her arms around his middle. "What are you doing?" He asked carefully as Sakura literally considered squeezing the life out of him. She couldn't even care less that her skin was once again reacting to the unfamiliar bacteria of Sasuke's clothes and skin.

* * *

_Yup, I did it once again. Updated a week early._

_**ATTENTION!** Just wanted to explain how this story goes. I won't be covering all the parts of Naruto like someone expected/thought. This story will only follow the events that happen with Sasuke in them since this is from Sasuke's point of view along with Sakura's. There will be very likely be scenes from Naruto's point of view, too, just to show you guys where this story is at and how things might have changed with Sakura's disappearance._

_So no this will not cover everything that Naruto universe has to offer. Unfortunately. Otherwise this story wouldn't be coming to its end anytime soon in the next ten years. So that's why I'm skipping most of the story line and I will be focusing on Sasuke's side of things. For example, I will be doing massive amount of research for this story by going through episodes of Shippuden and manga to see some of the timeline, and I don't want to make my readers wait for eternity for me to finish this._

_Also movies will be added to this story so you'll be seeing scenes from them, too._

_Thanks for reviewers:_

ILoveSxS

Uchiha Misaki

Lady Rini

snowcoloredwolf

Emily da great

Waterlilly333

Tomo

jenicholle

_and three _guests_._

_Leave a review! They make my day and tell me if you're actually liking this story or not. And I really want to hear your thought about the way I'll be approaching this whole thing and using the events from the actual Naruto._

_BUT I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS OR EVENTS THAT COME FROM THE MANGA OR ANIME! I only own the changes and ideas I add into the original story line. :D_

_\- Jakura_


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Only the parts that I'm adapting into the original story line._

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 12**

* * *

_"This will only pinch a little," a shadow cooed and took a step closer, "Just breath and everything will be alright." Sakura's mind was fuzzy as she tried to get sense of the familiar words that still didn't register in her mind. Her head was lulling from side to side and she fault nauseated. Swallowing was hard and awkward with something sticking in her throat._

_Right away as she swallowed she felt the familiar tightening in her throat. Why did she have the naso-gastric tube? What happened? It was hard to focus on anything in the very dim room she was in. But as the shadow that had talked to her stepped right next to her, she felt the panic rise._

_It was like an avalanche that surrounded her faster than her body could almost even react._

_Sakura tried to move away from the shadow, but found it impossible. Her arms and legs were bound to the table under her and her heart rate picked up even more._

_At this point the shadow was leaning over her and the more she stared the less she could see it. She couldn't pin point where its arms were and where the needle, she was sure she saw before, was. Her body was cramping on the table, as she tried to get away and she could feel the liquid, given to her through the tube, come up._

Sweat pooled on her forehead and chest as she tried keeping the pile down the best she could, and at the same time try to get away from the shadow. Her body continued to trash with the adrenaline kicking in.

_No! She screamed inside her head. This couldn't be happening again! Her body struggled more and more against the shackles keeping her in place. The needle flashed under the light dangerously as it was brought closer to her body. There it was! And only seeing it caused another wave of panic to come. She needed to get away!_

_As the needle came closer, her dizziness only grew. She tried yelling and shouting for them to stop, but the pile threatening to come up made her shut her mouth tightly. Her chest was hurting and she realized she was holding her breath in. Before anything could happen, she threw up on the table next to her head. Heaving and wishing that nothing else came up she cried out in panic._

_Unfortunately, nothing came out except a raspy gasp. Her throat felt sore as if she's been trying to yell the whole day. Nothing that could help her situation came up to her. The panic was too much._

_Her body was cramping under the effort and her eyes were wide from fear._

_She thought she didn't have to go through this anymore. Sasuke was supposed to keep Kabuto and Orochimaru away from her. Did he betray her? Where was he?_

_Help!_

_The shadow loomed over her and reached for her arm._

_Help!_

_Please, don't!_

_She begged to no avail._

_No!_

_No!_

Sakura felt a pressure on her shoulder and she snapped her eyes open. The first thing her mind registered was the darkness. The shadow was here. He was coming after her. No! She trashed against the pressure on her shoulders.

Her heart continued to bound against her rib cage violently as her arms tried to push everything away. She couldn't focus on anything else except the panic and the want to flee as quickly as possible.

Something heavy was pushing her against the-

Mattress?

Sakura's trashing stopped like she hit a wall. Her breathing still labored she closed her eyes tightly and swallowed hard. There wasn't any kind of tightening in her throat. Nothing was coming up the more she waited.

"Sakura?" Sasuke's soft voice broke through the silence of the room. That's when Sakura realized that she had had a nightmare. Her whole body shook and trembled. It took a little while longer of Sasuke hovering over her and her just lying motionless, before she felt her body relax. The panic changed into the after effects of adrenaline as Sakura's hands shook even more.

"Sakura?" He asked again.

"Yeah?" Sakura stuttered unsteadily. Her heart was still hammering and Sakura could hear the blood rushing inside her head.

"You okay?"

"I guess so." She answered quickly and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Sasuke scent was surrounding her entirely, and it helped to ease every down. She felt protected and safe. Squeezing her hands into a fist, Sakura took another deep breath. Her shirt was sticking to her body and making her itchy.

The more she became aware of her surroundings the better she started to feel.

There was no tube inside her nose and stomach. There was no restrains holding her down, except Sasuke's warm hands on top of her shoulders.

Sakura felt Sasuke move on the bed the side and then an arm scooped under her shoulders. She hummed from the movement of being pulled against a much warmer body of Sasuke's as he helped her to settle by his side. Curling right next to him, Sakura took another deep breath and snuggled closer to Sasuke's shoulder.

She felt dirty from the sweat, but Sasuke didn't seem to mind. He merely pulled her even closer.

With her eyes closed she took in the gentle motion of Sasuke's chest as he breathed and relaxed more into him. As his breathing continued to level she knew he had fallen as sleep. Soon she was counting his breathing and slowing her own to his pace.

She wasn't sure whether it was twenty minutes or an hour until her mind lost focus on Sasuke, and she fell back asleep.

* * *

"I'm getting bored." Sakura sighed in annoyance. They've been sitting in the huge room in one of Orochimaru's hideouts. They transferred here from Oto a little over a week ago and ever since the both Snake Sannin and his follower Kabuto has been nowhere around.

Sasuke was getting even more impatient than Sakura, since he's been lacking with training. It was getting more and more obvious that the Snake Sannin didn't have much to teach him anymore since he was always on the go and almost avoiding meeting Sasuke. All of it infuriated Sasuke, because he felt like nothing was moving forward.

Of course, it was obvious as day why Orochimaru stalled with things. He wanted Sasuke's body and the time wasn't up yet. Orochimaru needed more time before he could active the technique to get into Sasuke's body.

"Stop whining." Sasuke complained back and on his leg. "Have you eaten anything today?" He continued and glanced behind him at Sakura sitting behind a pillar. You could barely see her figure in the darkness even if the two torches lit up the room somewhat.

Sakura was silent for a moment and Sasuke could literally hear the gears in her head move before she looked up at him, "No?"

She woke up much later than him, and he was already training outside when she woke up. Then she spent her day in the small library the hideout has reading books about medicine. When they had transferred her, Sakura decided that she would much rather continued studying healing techniques rather than just around every day and watch Sasuke improve.

It was also easy to sneak few scroll into their room if she felt too uncomfortable alone. There wasn't anyone else in the hideout except Sasuke and Sakura. One of Orochimaru's followers stocked the kitchen every two days in the middle of a night, so Sasuke and Sakura neither has seen him enter the place. The only trace of him is the chakra left behind and the food in the small kitchen.

But even if they were literally alone, it didn't mean that Sakura felt safe alone. Often she picked the scrolls and few books to bring them to their room. The table inside was stacked with different writings and Sakura was spending most of her days plain reading. She read so much that she forgot to eat. That infuriated Sasuke since she wasn't gaining any weight at all.

She was still bony and scrawny. Her body needed more fat and as a medical kunoichi Sakura was aware of that. The proof that her body was lacking in every nutrient was plain as day with her hormones. Since leaving Konoha for the mission where she was badly injured, she hasn't got her period at all. It's been months already and it wasn't just stress.

But the fact that her body was also used to the state it was in, she didn't feel hunger that easily. And to add salt to the wounds, there weren't mirrors in the hideout. The only way she could see he bones sticking out was by looking down at herself, or Sasuke commenting that she had to eat more.

"Get something to eat, Sakura. Now."

"Stop being so bossy!" She snapped back and stood up. "You don't need to worry about me! I can take care of myself." Sakura stomped out of the room and headed for the kitchen.

Sasuke shook his head as he watched her leave through the side door. Every time he mentioned eating she seemed to get frustrated and snap at him. Not his problem, if she was getting self-conscious, but he wasn't having her die in their bed.

Sakura was getting more comfortable around him though. She was showing her emotions much freely and every once in a while, Sasuke could see glimpses of the Sakura he knew before leaving Konoha.

The double doors to the room suddenly opened and Sasuke activated his sharingan. Three shadows soon piled in and Sasuke stared passively at them. All three were staring straight at him, Orochimaru with a smirk on his face and Kabuto just stared right at him without anything. The third member of the crew was unfamiliar to him. The guy was obviously the same age as him and a shinobi.

Sasuke's eyes didn't leave the guy's form at all.

"You're late." He finally said lowly. "You were supposed to teach me a new technique this afternoon, Orochimaru."

"Again, with the rude tone." Kabuto grumbled from the side and glared at Sasuke.

"Calm down," Orochimaru said, "I picked up a little present for you." His eyes shifted to the guy standing in between Orochimaru and Kabuto, "He's from Konoha, just like you."

Sasuke didn't recognize the guy at all. Nothing ringed any bells in his mind and his gaze deepened. He wasn't at the academy with them so he had to originate either from another village or have private training. But not many shinobi changed villages after graduating the academy. This was very unusual.

Sasuke didn't feel good at all.

"I thought you two could reminiscent about the good old days in the village," Orochimaru explained.

The Uchiha boy huffed in humor. Had Orochimaru lost his mind? Did he actually think that Sasuke would just start thinking back to his time at the village with this guy. There was no way this was happening. He already had to look after Sakura and being with her took most of his free time, since he had to make sure she was taking care of herself.

Sakura's words suddenly popped into his mind. Someone from Konoha was after her.

Sasuke felt the rage start to build up inside him. If this guy was after Sakura, he would make sure there was no way he would get anywhere near Sakura at all. Even being in the same hideout as them was a risk. Sasuke wanted to lash out at him right away but steadied himself. There was no need to rush things.

The Elders of Konoha are a bog threat but killing one of their minions wouldn't be good. He just had to make sure that Sakura stayed away from him.

"Hi, there." The shinobi continued, "I'm Sai." He smiled. Sasuke could easily see through the look on his face. It wasn't a genuine smile.

"You must be Uchiha Sa-"

"Get lost." Sasuke barked.

The smiled dropped from the guy's face and he openly stared at Sasuke, "Even if I force myself to smile, I guess I'm just easy to hate." He said it more to himself than anyone. Orochimaru was intently observing the situation going on, along with Kabuto. Neither made a move to intervene.

"Even Naruto-kun hated me from the beginning."

Sasuke would have chuckled if he was any lesser man. It seemed that Naruto had grown at least somewhat. Trusting that everyone had good intentions even though they had tried to destroy everything seemed to be his way of thinking. The world just wasn't that easy, and it seems that Naruto has finally grasped the idea.

"Though," Sai opened his mouth again and Sasuke felt like slicing his throat open, "between the two of you, I think I'll get along better with you."

_As if_, Sasuke muttered in his mind and activated his genjutsu. The other boy was stupid enough to plain stare at his red eyes, making it way too easy to capture him. Even if it was only for a few seconds to show some of his powers, Sasuke knew that the boy was shook. The unsteady way he stepped back and fell backwards on the floor, indicated nothing less.

"Sasuke-kun!" Kabuto looked horrified as he scolded Sasuke. The gray-haired shinobi wasn't impressed with Sasuke's actions once again.

Orochimaru finally snapped out of whatever he seemed to be thinking and turn to look down at Sai, "I wouldn't bother Sasuke-kun, if I were you. Especially if our little flower is not with him." Sasuke's glare darkened at the mention of Sakura. The small movement of Sai's brows didn't go unnoticed at the mentioning of Sakura. Luckily the boy had no idea, who the Snake Sannin meant with the word.

"Sasuke's temper is even worse than mine." Orochimaru chuckled.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"I have nothing to say to this loser." Sasuke stood up on the stone pedestal he was sitting on, "Train me, Orochimaru." This was getting useless. Orochimaru had nothing else for him. Sasuke needed to file his plan a little more before making his move. He just couldn't hurry this too much. Orochimaru needed to be at his weakest when he finally struck. Getting ready to leave Sasuke took steps away from the room.

Instead of getting anything from Orochimaru, Sai opened his mouth, "I've heard a lot about you from Naruto-kun. He's been trying to find you the past three years."

His words stopped Sasuke and he turned slowly to stare into Sai's eyes, "I remember him." his eyes shifted to Oroshimaru's,"Let's go, now."

"Naruto-kun, really thinks of you as his brother."

"I only have one brother," Sasuke said back instantly, "and I'll I want to do is kill him."

Sasuke popped himself out of the room. He didn't want to give anyone anymore reasons to talk to him. Orochimaru had to keep his promise and train him this evening.

* * *

It had been one of the shortest training sessions with Orochimaru ever. And Sasuke wasn't pleased with it. He wanted to tell his displeasure with the situation aloud, but kept his mouth shut and walked away.

Sasuke opened the door to his and Sakura's room, and to be honest he was surprised to see Sakura with a bowl of soup on her lap. She had a scroll on her knee as she was sitting cross-legged on their bed. The cover was pulled on her lap to cover her legs to protect them from the steaming bowl and cold air of the room.

"Sasuke?" Sakura mumbled as she barely even looked up at him.

She seemed to be so far in her studies that everything else was oblivious. Even the soup looked like she hadn't eaten at all.

"Sakura," Sasuke barked again with a glare, "keep eating."

Her head lifted fast to stare at him and then back to the scroll on her lap before moving to the bowl of soup.

"Oh," she shrugged absent minded and took the spoon for another mouthful.

Sasuke shook his head again and closed the door behind. As she took a few more spoonful's, Sakura's eyes drifted back to Sasuke, as he placed his kusanagi to lean against the bed frame.

"What's that chakra?" she finally asked when he sat down.

"What chakra?" He fired back and leaned over her lap to take the scroll away.

"Hey!" Sakura reacted right away and tried to grab the paper back. Unfortunately, Sasuke was much faster since he didn't have a bowl filled with food in front of him. "Give it back!"

"Keep eating." Sasuke still pressed and Sakura had to bite the insides of her cheeks. She was so close to saying something bad, but refrained from opening her mouth. Las thing she wanted was to insult Sasuke too much. He might completely throw her out without anything to help her, if she did.

Grabbing the spoon again, Sakura began shoving the soup into her mouth. Between spoonfuls she was able to ask again, "The chakra?"

"Some guy Orochimaru brought from his journey."

"You're awfully interested if he's going to stay here with us."

Sasuke stayed quiet. Sakura didn't need to know where the guy came from and what he might be. That would only send her into full blown panic mode and that was the last thing she needed right now. She had to focus on eating, and after that he might tell her.

Sitting in silence was calming. And Sasuke even closed his eyes and focused on nothing. The only sound was Sakura eating the rest of the soup and getting up from the bed. She was just about to leave the room when Sasuke's eyes flashed open, "No."

Sakura was surprised with his reaction and almost dropped the bowl.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"You can leave it here for the night."

"I can't just leave it here," Sakura said and looked at him like he was the stupidest thing in the world, "it's dirty and needs cleaning."

"You can take it tomorrow morning." He said and twisted his body easily to lay on his back.

Sakura huffed in annoyance.

"If this is about me not wasting any calories on energy than you've taken this way too far!"

"Shut up, and go to bed."

"That's all you say!" She continued. It was getting on her nerves that he was constantly babying her. "Go to bed! Eat more!" She cited all his commands.

"Sakura." Sasuke opened his closed eyes and gave a leveled look.

Again, she had to bite the insides of her cheek to keep herself from lashing out. This guy seriously was pissing her off!

Complying she placed the bowl on the table next to the door and walked back to the bed.

Sasuke was occupying the edge of the bed so she had to crawl from the bottom to get to her place next to the wall. To be honest, her body was sluggish. The serving she ate was big, and she needed some time to rest. In no time her eyes had closed and she was back asleep.

* * *

_Sakura is doing a lot of sleeping, but taking in her circumstances I think she needs it. After experiencing things that she has, she need some time to gain more energy and weight. Like I've mentioned earlier, I'm a nursing student and injured people really do need a lot of energy to heal and recover._

_What did you think about the Sai moment? It was from the anime/manga. I tried making it as realistic as possible, but still changing some lines to make it feel like my "own" (I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AT ALL). I honestly didn't want to plain copy the scene from the anime. Hopefully I did a decent job at transferring this story into the Naruto plot. And as you guys can see, this will not be completely the same story line as Naruto's._

_We'll only be going with Sasuke's and Sakura's point of views and what happens to them. Of course, there will be few scenes from Konoha and other places here and there. :)_

_Thanks for reviewers:_

ILoveSxS

Lady Rini

Emily da great

SakuraXAkatsuki

Uchiha Misaki

sasusakulover

Guest

guest

_It's been a long week for me, but I'll probably will be posting another chapter next weekend. Maybe even in the next two days. We'll see how much time I have to write._

_Leave a review! I really want to know your opinions on if you like the direction this story is going._

_\- Jakura_


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Only the parts that I'm adapting into the original story line._

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 13**

* * *

Sasuke's body was on high alert. He was aware that Sai was just behind his door. He recognized his chakra easily and the tiny noises the other guy did also indicated that he was behind the door.

It was ease as breathing to keep his body relaxed to avoid the Konoha shinobi noticing that he was spotted. The door didn't creak much as Sai carefully opened it and then something came in. Sasuke recognized the familiar hissing and quiet moving of snakes on the floor.

Keeping himself calm, Sasuke waited. As the snakes rolled closer to the bed Sasuke finally opened his eyes. Sakura was still sound asleep in front of him as he laid his back towards the door. His body was entirely covering Sakura's, since she was lying on her stomach with her face facing Sasuke. Her whole body was relaxed her no sign of stress anywhere. She hadn't noticed Sai's presence yet.

As the snakes reached for the bed and began crawling up towards it Sasuke decided to speak up, "Who's there?"

"You heard me?" Sai seemed surprised, but not too much, "Too late though, I still have advantage."

"What do you want?" Had he noticed Sakura? Was he here to find her and kill her?

"I came here to kill you on Danzo-sama's orders."

The three snakes swayed from side to side.

"But now I'm here to bring you back to Konoha."

Sasuke couldn't help the flashback of Naruto. He still wanted to take Sasuke back to Konoha. Sai must have met with Naruto at some point because if his original mission was to kill him, then the only person to be able to change someone's way of thinking was Naruto. He had done it so many times before. Almost every single enemy they had met, he had somehow changed their opinions and belief.

It was almost unreal.

But the biggest relief to Sasuke was that this guy wasn't after Sakura. The Konoha's Council didn't have any idea where she was currently and he needed to make sure that nothing changed that.

"I want to protect the bond of friendship Naruto is so hard striving to keep." Sai continued and confirmed Sasuke's suspicion of the blond idiot being back in the picture. It's been three years since they saw each other. Such a long time. But apparently, nothing had changed about Naruto.

"Bonds?" Sasuke asked back with almost humor in his tone. He wasn't interested in any bonds with Naruto. "You dared to disturb my sleep for that?"

The door had creaked more open and Sasuke felt his fury increase as he gazed at Sakura. He was finally having her sleeping properly and eat a little more, and now this dumbass came around disturbing them both. Just that thought made Sasuke want to kill Sai.

Honestly, he wasn't interested in killing anyone else except Itachi. But this time he might make a difference.

Activating his sharingan was easy and Sasuke didn't miss the small falter in Sai's composure. Unfortunately, the shinobi picked himself up quickly and made a hand sign to command the snakes. All three wrapped around Sasuke's body tightly, luckily ignoring Sakura's body. As the snakes wrapped themselves around him, Sasuke's eyes never left Sakura's.

Her brows were furrowing from the light coming through the doorway and she finally opened her eyes.

All this happened in mere seconds as Sasuke trapped her in his genjutsu once again, and let his powers loose.

The explosion was fast and powerful. The snakes were burned to death as Sasuke reached over to Sakura's body and used his chakra to transform her appearance. He couldn't trust the smoke enough to cover them fully while he summoned Garuda. The eagle filled the space in front of him and he easily threw Sakura's motionless body at him. It easily did what was told and with a flap of his wings he lifted off the ground and grabbed Sakura mid-air.

In few seconds its powerful wings were taking it up in air and away from the hideout. At that point, all Sasuke could do was to wish that no one would follow the eagle. Also, he hoped that Sakura stayed unconscious until Garuda had landed her to safety.

Then Sasuke jumped out of the crater he created and landed on the cliff. Everything in over thirty feet radius was destroyed.

As the smoke disappeared into air, Sai was left on the bottom of the crater on his hands and knees.

With strain, he started to stand up.

"Very impressive. It takes a lot of force to brake my jutsu." Sai mused out loud.

Did the guy think he was weak?

A loud banging of footsteps echoed from the hallway to the right of Sasuke. Naruto's familiar blond hair and orange colored clothing emerged from the dark hallway. He didn't seem to notice Sasuke right away.

Naruto was glaring at Sai as he stopped next to him, but then the blond took notice of where Sai was looking up. His body froze entirely as he turned around to face Sasuke.

For the first time, Naruto was surprised to silence. His mouth hang slightly open as he plain stared at Sasuke. Them both had changed quite a bit. Both were taller and much more masculine than before. And both had different clothing. Three years was a long time for a teenager to grow, especially if you were a boy.

"Naruto?" Sasuke acknowledges. "You're here, too? Then I guess Kakashi and Sakura must be here also."

The sadness that flashes in Naruto's eyes when he mentions Sakura is fast but Sasuke took note of it. Better play it so that no one figures that she's with him. She didn't want to return to Konoha and he was going to make sure that he wished stayed that way.

An unfamiliar man walks to the sunlight from the hallway. Brown hair and dark eyes held no emotion as he takes his place next to Naruto.

"Sorry, I'm not Kakashi-san, but I'm his replacement. We're the new team Kakashi and here to bring you back to Konoha." The unfamiliar man says and shrugs his shoulders.

_Team Kakashi? _Sasuke thought to himself.

Then what happened to Kakashi? Team 7 seems to be in shreds. Both Sakura and him on the run, and Kakashi somewhere unknown. The only original doing anything was Naruto alone. How did he have the energy? Why come here and bring him back to Konoha?

He could start looking for Sakura, too, but apparently, no.

Sifting his eyes back to Sai, "Then he must be my replacement. Another useless person to try and drag me back. He did talk about wanting to protect my 'bond' with you Naruto."

Naruto's head turned to Sai.

"Weren't you here to kill him?" He asks.

Sai pulls out the small sword on his back and points it at Sasuke. Naruto's body tenses again as if he is ready to bounce in the other guy any minute. Very typical for Naruto. Drama always follows him around.

"Yes, my secret mission at first was to kill Uchiha Sasuke, but I don't care about that mission anymore. I will do whatever I want from now on. Feelings, I had forgotten a long time ago, are coming back to me thanks to Naruto." The dark-haired teenager explained calmly. "I think they must have been important."

Sasuke lowered his for a moment.

Feelings? The guy wanted to protect Naruto's bonds because of his feelings?

"I don't know you at all, but Naruto doesn't want to take you back for no apparent reason. He does everything to stop you and to protect the bond between you two. I'm not yet sure what it is about, but," he stared intently at Sasuke, "you should know about it."

Sasuke took a small pause. The three of them seemed very serious.

"Oh, I do. That's why I already severed that bond." He didn't want to go back to Konoha. All of that was in his way of finding Itachi. The years he spent there got him nowhere. Now, after following Orochimaru, he was much closer to finding Itachi.

"I only have one bond and that is the hatred between me and my brother, Itachi." Sasuke could easily remember his brother's words for him. The way he mocked his power by saying that he wasn't strong enough. The way he said that Sasuke's hatred wasn't grate enough to defeat him.

"Different bonds just make us lose focus on what's important." Just like his bond with Sakura. He was constantly watching and worrying over her. She wasn't taking care of herself properly and he had to barge in to make sure that the girl didn't die of hunger.

Naruto's fingers balled into fists. He looked sad and angry at the same time as he looked down at the broken ground.

"Why," Naruto started and took a deep breath. Lifting his head to glare at Sasuke, "Why didn't you kill me back then?! Do you really think our bond broke that day!" He shouted as loudly as he could.

"It's simple. It's not about just braking the bond. I just didn't want to become stronger the way that bastard wanted me to." Sasuke said. He didn't want to do what Itachi told him to do. He wanted to get stronger on his own. And killing his closest friend to acquire Mangekyō Sharingan didn't appeal to him.

Naruto's brows furrowed in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"There's no need to clarify. I'll I can say is that I left you alive that day on a whim." But maybe today is a whole different day.

No one was able to react to Sasuke's speed as he flashed right in front of Naruto. His arm landed on Naruto's shoulder as he leaned closer on the other side. Both Sai and the team leader were startled with the speed. Even Naruto froze.

"You dreamed of becoming a Hokage, right Naruto?" Sasuke drawled out and moved his right arm to grab the hilt of kusanagi, "You should have stayed and continued to train, instead of coming after me. Because of that, I think I'll actually kill you on a similar whim like back then."

Kusanagi slid from the holster silently and smoothly as Sasuke stretched his right arm to the side. The weight of the weapon in his hands was familiar and readied him for a fight.

"Someone who is not able to even safe one friend, is not qualified to become the Hokage. Right, Sasuke?" Naruto said with the most leveled tone Sasuke might have ever heard from him. Naruto clearly had grown up. But he had to finish this thing quickly. He had other places to be rather than stay here with these people.

Slashing his sword towards Naruto's hard Sasuke was ready to deliver the deathly blow until Sai's body stepped in between the blade and Naruto. His hand wrapped around Sasuke's wrist.

"You blocked it the right way." Sasuke said to the other guy which surprised him. At that moment, Naruto made his move as he as he moved his body upwards so that their leader could attack him. They were holding both of Sasuke's hands while their leader made hand signs. From the corner of his eye Sasuke took in the wood pillar stretching from the man's hand towards him.

He had no other option except use his lightning. Activating his sharingan Sasuke used his chakra to surround his body, "Chidori nagashi!" Lightning burst from his body pushing Naruto and Sai away from him, along with the wood technique used by the older man.

Naruto and Sai hit the ground hard convulsing from the electric shock their bodies received.

The leader came for him next with with kunais in his hands, but Sasuke's kusanagi was stronger. It sliced through the kunais and even though the man tried to block, Sasuke's kusanagi went through his shoulder like butter. Blood spilled from the wound as Sasuke continued his momentum to push the man against a boulder. Sasuke wanted to smirk at the stupidity of the leader.

"Kusanagi is special. No one can block it." The blade continued to use lightening even when out of Sasuke's hand to immobilize the victim.

A spark of chakra made Sasuke turn his attention back to Naruto. He was on his hands and knees shaking, while his finger nails had grown and eyes had turned red. That was Naruto's power. Using his sharingan, Sasuke made his way into the seal that kept the Nine-Tailed Beast locked inside Naruto's body. A large orange bubbling creature greeted him as Sasuke appeared right in front of the creature.

"_You're from the Uchiha clan._" The creature bellowed.

Naruto was startled, "What are you doing here?"

"So this is where you get your powers." Sasuke stated. "I never would have thought something like this resided inside of you, Naruto."

"_You can see me because of that cursed linage of yours._"

"So you've seen these eyes before. Are you the Nine-Tailed Beast?"

"_Your chakra is much darker than mine._" The beast bellowed again, ignoring Sasuke's question. "_You remind me of Uchiha Madara._"

Sasuke grabbed the bubbling creatures nose and it exploded completely.

"I've never heard about any one with that name." Sasuke said. Uchiha Madara was unknown to him. He had never heard the name in his life.

"_So you can control me... We might not meet again, so I'll say this now. Don't-... kill-... Naruto-... You'll regret it._"

The scene unfolded and they were back at the crater. Naruto was still on his knees and Sasuke's blade embedded into the leader's shoulder. Suddenly the man made a hand sign and a wooden pole erupted from the wound, pushing the blade out. Sasuke was taken by surprise as the momentum pushed him backwards. As he tried backing away more wood appeared from underground and created a cocoon around him.

Quickly he used his kusanagi to break through the jutsu's roof and he jumped back on the cliff.

Naruto was already back on his feet.

"Don't you understand Sasuke that Orochimaru only wants your body!" Naruto shouted angry. The whole situation angered him since it seemed to him like Sasuke didn't care about his own life.

"Hn, you're naive Naruto." Sasuke said. "I'm tired of you already. It's time for you to disappear." Sasuke made his hand signs. He was going to make this quick and rid of these bunch.

"Sakura is missing! She's probably dead already! Don't you care at all!" Naruto shouted again. Unfortunately for Naruto, Sasuke knew where Sakura was and that she was alive and well. As if he would let anything happen to her.

Raising his hand in the air and taking control of his chakra, Sasuke was ready to use his technique. But he wasn't able to fully take control before Orochimaru appeared. His hand was wrapped around Sasuke's wrist and he couldn't help but get annoyed. To be touched by so many people in one day was frustrating. Didn't they know he liked his space?

"Don't use that technique, Sasuke-kun." The Snake Sannin said.

"Let go." Sasuke grounded out.

"Why are you always so disrespectful towards Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto scolded him again.

"Konoha shinobi are very useful for us. Akatsuki are a threat that needs to be eliminated and they can wipe it out. If the other members of Akatsuki come in your way, your revenge will become much harder to achieve." Orochimaru explained. He was grinning with that sly look on his face.

"Pathetic," Sasuke mumbled.

Orochimaru finally let go of Sasuke wrist and he lowered his arm. With Orochimaru's chakra surrounding them, he teleported them away, but not before saying, "Now we just need to get our little flower."

The last thing that Sasuke saw was Naruto brows lowering in confusion.

* * *

Sasuke was filled with annoyance and frustration. They had transferred to the Eastern hideout that was similar with the one Sasuke had destroyed only few hours ago. The only difference with these two hideouts was that the waterfall was much closer to the Kusagakure's hideout.

Since he didn't know where they were bound to locate next, if that was to happen, Sasuke had no other option except made Garuda take Sakura there. With a cloak covering him Sasuke ran through the forest as quickly as his legs were able to.

If Sakura was smart, she would have stayed in that cave under the waterfall. Unfortunately, he couldn't risk using Garuda right now, because it might attract too much attention. The summon had disappeared right after it had dropped Sakura in to the cave. From there on out everything was in Sakura's hands. She might have woken from his genjutsu even during the flight, but he doubted that.

He just wished she had stayed put.

It wasn't that long journey. Only a day worth of travel with Sasuke's speed. The day was already turning dark by the time he neared Kusagakure. His body was exhausted from the tension of the day and the stress.

He couldn't sense Sakura anywhere even though he closed in on the cave. Jumping from the cliff and down into the rock below, Sasuke maneuvered his body as close to the entrance as possible. His senses were covered by the loud roar of the waterfall as he strode up on the rocks and behind the water. Everything was in place outside and Sasuke walked through the curtain.

A small body was slumped under the blankets on the furthest corner of the room, on the platform.

Sakura's back was facing him and as he neared her she made no move to acknowledge him. Placing on foot on the platform to reach better, Sasuke leaned over Sakura to look at her face. Her eyes were closed and she was still deeply asleep. She looked like she hadn't woken up at all.

Sighing Sasuke sat down on the edge of the stone slab.

He felt conflicted.

Just this morning he had talked about severing all his ties with everyone close to him, and now he ran for a whole day to get back to one bond. He was literally a hypocrite. Saying different things than what his actions show.

He couldn't severe his bond with Sakura.

That would mean very likely death for her, but what it would mean to him? She would die if he dumped her like garbage, but he would continue his journey to kill Itachi. He would literally lose nothing, if he just got up and left her here alone.

She wouldn't probably even know that he came to see her.

He looked up at the doorway. He could just leave. No, he should leave.

Bonds were a distraction that mislead you away from your original goal. That's all they are. Useless things that only hinder your progress.

Slight ruffling came from behind Sasuke, but he didn't turn around.

"Sasuke?" Sakura's sleepy voice crooned.

He glanced behind to see her rubbing her eyes like a child. Sasuke had to bite his cheek not to smile.

"Get back to sleep."

"That's all you tell me to do." She mumbled back with her eyes closed. Her body was now facing upwards and her head lulled to the side.

Grabbing the button that kept his cloak together, Sasuke opened it and threw the thing aside. Pushing off his shoes, he grabbed the edge of the blankets that were already over Sakura and slipped under them.

Sakura didn't fight or say anything at all as Sasuke pulled her tiny body towards him. She was already unconscious her body just as slack as normally. And she seemed to fit perfectly next to him.

Moving closer to Sakura seemed much easier than the mere idea of leaving her.

* * *

_I would have liked to make this longer, but I don't think then I would have been able to post this today. I hope you guys liked this!_

_It took quite a while to incorporate the "meeting" scene into a written version. Next chapter will be completely mine and will not have any scenes from Naruto. :)_

_Thanks for reviewers:_

Lady Rini

Emily da great

ILoveSxS

Sakurabeam

Guest

guest

_I will probably post His Possession next week and not this. But we'll see if I'm actually able to post both again. I'll start writing His Possession's chapter 20 right away._

_\- Jakura_


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Only the parts that I'm adapting into the original story line._

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 14**

* * *

"Naruto, calm down." Tsunade's stern voice said as she leaned against her desk that was filled with paperwork that she needed to sort out.

Naruto was walking back and front on the floor scratching his head. He was obviously agitated by everything and bothered by the whole situation.

"I want to go and find her, Tsunade-baa-chan." Naruto finally said after a moment of silence. "I want to see with my own two eyes what had happened."

"Naruto, we've been through this many times. I've send people to scout the area regularly and even Kakashi lead a team that sorted through the closest villages. We need to believe the message we got when she disappeared."

"I don't think she's dead."

"You can-"

"No!" Naruto fired back, "I would know if she was dead. She is somewhere, but doesn't want to be found."

Tsunade closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, "If she doesn't want to be found then she must have a very good reason for that. I'm sure if she's alive, your paths will cross with her at some point. But there's no point in assembling another crew to go and find her."

"But, Tsunade-"

"Naruto." This time it was Kakashi's turn to calm the teenager down. "We looked through everywhere. And not even Pakkun could get a scent on her. Either she was very much chakra depleted or somehow she was able to change her scent. But if she doesn't want to be found than we should leave her, for now."

"Sasuke doesn't want to be found, but I still try to bring him back. I'm not giving up on Sakura!"

"I know, but this time the situation is something different."

"I want to speak with the two shinobi, who came from the mission alone and without Sakura." Naruto had fire in his eyes as he looked straight at his Hokage.

"Both Nigaro Yuu and Dani Reina have been through an investigation conducted by the Yamanaka clan. There's nothing more they can say or do for now. They send their condolences for you." Tsunade spoke calmly.

"I still want to see them." Naruto fired back stubbornly.

"Fine." Tsunade was getting tired of Naruto's prying to have a conversation with the two chūnin.

A grin finally found its way on Naruto's face, "Thanks, Tsunade-baa-chan."

Naruto had a hunch that something bigger, then that Sakura just had died accidentally, was going on. He couldn't do anything else about the feeling except follow his instincts.

Sasuke already left the village and Naruto expected to return to see Sakura back at Konoha after finishing his training with Jiraiya. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case. And going after Sasuke, alone nonetheless, was hard.

Naruto only wished that Sakura would have been there to meet with the Uchiha, but she wasn't. But he was sure she isn't dead. There might be a possibility, but there was no way Sakura was dead.

He will return Sasuke back to village and he will find Sakura.

There's no other option. Naruto was determined to make his plans become reality. He promised Sakura to bring Sasuke back almost three years ago, and he will not brake that promise. Just like he made a promise to himself that he will find Sakura. Whether it was her body or if she was alive and well.

Luckily Naruto wasn't alone with this burden. He has Kakashi-sensei to back him up and their new team leader Yamato along with Sai. Sai came to their group to replace the absence of Sakura and mostly Sasuke. And then there was everyone else from Konoha. All his friends and even Gaara from Suna. They were able to save him few weeks ago from the Akatsuki.

Unfortunately, they lost another life at the same time.

But with team 10's help, they were able to succeed.

Even though, Naruto hadn't seen Sakura in over two years, he was proud of her. He heard from everyone in the village how she became stronger and gained more fame as a medical kunoichi. And let's not forget that she became a jōnin with the help of team 10. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji were priceless to Naruto. They helped his friend and one day he will give them something back.

* * *

To be honest, Sakura was exhausted.

Sasuke had demanded her this morning to spar with him, since something had made him agitated. Well that something was Orochimaru. He was supposed to train with Sasuke once again, but for some reason cancelled the session.

Sakura had taken notice that every time Orochimaru cancelled their training session, Sasuke would get this odd look on his face. It wasn't anything very notable, but after being such a long time with him Sakura got the hang of some of his traits. Sasuke was planning on something.

Every single time after training, Sakura had to shower, of course. That was another thing that drained even more of her chakra to the point that she was ready to collapse. Her muscles were sore from being used so much, and Sasuke wasn't the type of partner to let you go easy.

Yes, Sakura was malnourished, but she was still able to take care of herself. Sasuke demanded for her to go beyond her own limit with ninjutsu and that is exactly what she did.

Sasuke was sharpening his kusanagi on the bed while Sakura was leaning against his shoulder. Her back was facing the door as she just stared at the wall right behind the bed. Her mind couldn't even think.

Her hair was still wet from the shower and she was embarrassingly wetting Sasuke's shirt. He didn't seem to mind that she was literally hogging his personal space. But the reason for that was that she was cold. This hideout was much cooler, than the ones before, and Sasuke was like a heater. Teenage boys and their hormones. If only her hormones would do the same kind of trick.

Or then it was just Sasuke's elemental power of controlling the fire.

But still it was very much unfair.

A tiny nudge on Sakura's side from Sasuke alerted her that she had fallen asleep. When you might ask, she had no idea. Her brain was foggy from the sudden alertness and she licked her lips.

"Lay down." Sasuke commanded once again and she was too tired to argue with him.

Snuggling under the sheets felt amazing. It warmed her even more since she had been sitting on top of the cover.

Sasuke's warm body glided under the same blanket without any trouble. Right away, Sakura scooted her body right against him to warm up even more.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked suddenly.

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

"For what?"

Sakura shrugged under the covers and in the deep darkness.

"Everything?" Sakura didn't expect an answer from him as they fell in to a comfortable silence.

Sakura felt Sasuke's breath on her forehead rather than she saw him. One of the downsides of living underground was that it was always so dark if you turned off the lights.

Unlike every other time, Sakura felt herself unable to fall asleep. Sasuke's breathing had long ago evened out indicating that he was asleep. Sakura's mind was more restless than her body. Her muscles ached from the intense training session, but her mind couldn't find the similar kind of exhaustion her body succumbed easily into.

She had no idea what got to her body and mind as she blindly reached up. Gently Sakura's nose bumped against Sasuke's jaw and as she reached even hire and her lips brushed the same spot. For a beat of a second, Sakura stayed still and waited a reaction from her companion. His breathing was just as level as it was before.

A sudden flash of realization struck Sakura and she quickly pulled back. What was she doing? She was obviously crossing some boundaries that had been set between them.

In a twisted way, she was molesting him in his sleep!

Sakura breathed out hard and bit down on her lip. What was going on inside her head? What made her do something like this?

It wasn't that she liked Sasuke or anything. She was over her childish crush to the hottest boy in her class back at the academy. But here she was molesting him in his sleep without his approval.

Yes, she and him had grown closer with each passing day, but Sasuke only saw her as an annoying little sister that wouldn't leave him alone. Well unlike siblings normally, they even slept in the same bed and maybe occasionally cuddled, but that was as far as things were going to go ever.

Almost too deep in thought, Sakura's mind barely registered the soft feeling of Sasuke's warm hand sneaking around her waist.

Sakura froze from the touch against her skin as she realized that her t-shirt had run up over her stomach. She barely even dared to breathed as she listened to any kind of changes in Sasuke's inhales and exhales. Nothing had changed.

Slowly she breathed out and relaxed her body.

He was still asleep. Good.

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice completely startled her and she tried to scramble away from the boy in front of her. Sasuke arm that was wrapped around her waist halted her movements instantly.

"S-S-Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed. "Y-you're awake!"

He didn't reply to her comment and instead only pulled her closer to him. Her body was entirely flushed against his with their legs tangled together. The hand that was lying against her back moved upwards in the darkness and Sakura's whole body erupted into goosebumps. She could only wish he didn't feel them. His touch was so feathery light that she shivered and her breath hitched for a moment.

Overcome with sensations, Sakura could only wait and feel what the Uchiha was doing. His hand slowly moving upwards on her back was something that she probably should have not allowed, but as Sasuke's hand reached the back of her neck from under the shirt, it was only a tiny thing compared to what happened next. She was trapped under his arm while his fingers wrapped themselves in her hair.

It was something Sakura never expected to happen, but still it did, when Sasuke tilted her head back and she felt the soft brush of his lips against hers. Again, Sakura was perplexed as to why he was doing this?

But as her mind tried to come up with reasons to her question, her body had a mind of its own as her lips pressed against his. It was the subtlest movement, but Sasuke noticed it. His lips pressed harder against her like something had broken between them at that moment.

Sakura's own hand slid up his shirt clad front and wrapped around his neck pulling him even closer.

Her breathing had labored and she moaned against the gentle bite on her lip. Sasuke's touch was intoxicating her more and more. Trying to shift as close to him as possible, Sakura's body tingled with excitement.

Sasuke's lips were so soft and demanding at the same time. He was everything one would hope for in a kiss.

And as his lips started trailing their way down her cheek and to her neck, Sakura felt her mind losing all sense of reality.

* * *

Sakura was sitting on a table in one of the labs in the hideout. Kabuto was mixing something on the other end of the room completely ignoring her presence. The book she was reading about poisons was very interesting and she's been reading it for the past three hours while taking few notes.

She found a small notebook after Sasuke brought her to this hideout.

Kabuto was digging through the cabinets, moving things around and obviously not finding what he needed.

"Sakura," his voice said, "I need you to do something for me."

Sakura wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. It wasn't Kabuto's style to ask her for anything or make her do anything. He normally would glare at her and maybe ask few thinks, but never made her do his bidding.

Sasuke made it very clear that if he messed with her, then there would be consequences.

"What do you need?" she asked passively. It wasn't a good idea to show her nervousness around the medical shinobi. Kabuto was a strong opponent just like her, but since Sakura hasn't been training much for a while, she wasn't sure she could take him on. The occasional sparring sessions with Sasuke were nothing compared to the vigorous training Sakura had with her mentor, Tsunade.

But when on her own in the bedroom, she would control her chakra as if she was ready to punch something. Just barely making the chakra burst from her hands, but keeping it concealed. It was a good thing that she hadn't forgotten how to use her abilities after months of immobilization.

"Down at the second-floor lab is a vial with purple acid in it. I need you to go and get it. It's on a counter in the middle of the room."

"Why can't you go and get it?" Sakura wasn't his errand boy. Well, girl.

"I need to watch this," he pointed at the beaker that had clear liquid in it, "so that it doesn't explode."

Sakura shook her head and grabbed her notebook from the table. Without another word to the other shinobi she began making her way towards the stairs. Sakura hasn't been to the other lab yet and not many had even gone there at all.

Kabuto came a few times from there and when the door at the bottom of the stairs was open, Sakura could see bluish light shining from inside. She had no idea what the lab was for and what they were doing down there at all.

The door was closed at the bottom like always, but as Sakura turned the knob it opened. To say mildly, the contents inside the room surprised her. There were rows and rows of water tanks that went from the floor all the way to the ceiling.

Sakura couldn't see anything in the tanks of water, and as she stared at them intently she didn't notice the cords lying around. Almost slipping on one, Sakura was luckily able to find her balance before tumbling on to the floor.

A loud chuckle echoed in the room causing Sakura to panic momentarily. Looking around she couldn't see anything or anyone. No one was moving anywhere and the laughter had died down already.

"Whose there?" Sakura asked out loud. Her own voice echoed in the vast lab.

"That depends." The same voice that had chuckled asked.

Walking around the tanks, Sakura looked around the place.

"Depends on what?" She asked again.

"Depends on who you are."

Sakura felt her brow twitch from annoyance. Who the hell was this guy?

"Stop playing games with me." Sakura snapped. She wasn't in the mood to entertain anyone.

"Well someone's feisty. You actually remind me of a certain red head." The voice explained. "You sure you're not her? Through this tank every color seems a bit blurred, but I think you're not as curvaceous as her. Unless she decided to starve herself."

"You're talking about Karin?" Sakura joined the dots. Karin was a red head and had a feisty temper to her, too. But other than the temper, neither of them were similar at all, at least in Sakura's mind.

"Yeah, that's her. You're not Karin then, huh?"

"Obviously, not."

So far Sakura hadn't seen anyone. There was no one else except her in the lab. But he had mentioned being in one of the tanks. Maybe he was invisible?

"If you're looking for me, I'm right here." A figure appeared next to Sakura in a tank and caught her by surprise. She stumbled back as her heart started to race in panic.

Her eyes took in the sight of a teenager, about her age, in the tank. And he was completely naked.

Lifting her arm to block the lower parts of the boy, Sakura took few more steps back.

"Oh, come on! Like you haven't seen a naked man before!" He taunted and Sakura had to fight her blush.

"N-not in this situation." While training to be a medical kunoichi it was unavoidable to not see a naked man, but this was whole another thing. This boy was in a water tank and naked for not medical purposes. She wasn't doing any kind of medical exam on him. Absolutely, not!

"Ah! You've had sex before then, huh?" He taunted some more with a smirk on his face.

"No!" Sakura yelled mortified. "I'm a medical kunoichi! Not a whore!"

"Well, I never said you were a whore." The boy scratched his head and came to the edge of the tank pressing his forehead against it. "But with a hickey like that, I wouldn't exclude the possibilities."

Even more mortified with the situation, Sakura's other hand flew to her neck. How the hell had he noticed it!

"Stop that!" Sakura glared.

"Don't blame me! You're the one with a t-shirt on that shows a little too much!" The boy continued to chuckle.

"If you were here, I would punch you to Suna and back!" Sakura growled and the boy laughed even more.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's just that I get really bored of just floating here." He scratched his head again.

"So you're one of Orochimaru's test subject, too?" Sakura asked more softly. Her skin prickled with the memory of having those needles in her skin and the affect they caused on her. She was getting the hang of it all slowly, but when you were tired it was hard to control her chakra.

This time the boy looked surprised, "Orochimaru, tested on you, too?"

Sakura only nodded. Instinctively her other hand reach for the other. Her skin prickled again and she got the feeling of itch on it.

"I guess not everyone is as lucky as that Sasuke-guy." The boy shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"He got the easiest way by being only bitten, but the rest of us are a result of probing with needles and stuff that has been put into us."

"We're all unique in our own way."

The boy started laughing, "That's deep." Sakura smiled.

"What's your name?" Sakura finally asked.

"Hōzuki Suigetsu, from Kirigakure. What about you, girly?"

"Haruno Sakura."

Suigetsu's eyes widened, "You're Sasuke's teammate!"

"I thought he was the only one who deserted Konoha." He chuckled again with amusement.

"Things are not always that simple." Sakura shrugged and turned to walk away from the tank. She needed to get back to Kabuto with the acid.

"So," Suigetsu raised his voice, "about that hickey!"

"I'm not telling you." Sakura said back.

"Oh, come on! I'm bored! Entertain me!"

"I need to get back upstairs. Sorry." Sakura said back and took the purple liquid that was on the counter in the middle of the room.

* * *

As Sakura made her way back to Kabuto with the vial in her hand, she couldn't help the aggravation that overcame her. Every single time she saw someone new that had been through the experimenting that she had, it just angered her. This whole situation was so inhuman. How can anyone think this is okay?

Even though it's different for everyone, it's still wrong. No matter how bad of a person you are and deserve it, it just isn't fair. And now Suigetsu is spending his days in a tank of water with nothing else to do. How boring and exhausting that must be. Nothing to do and nowhere to go except stare at the same walls that held you captive.

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice startled her and she whipped around to face him.

"Sa-Sasuke-kun? You startled me." Holding her hand over her heart Sakura could feel her heart pounding inside her chest.

Sasuke's eyes were on the steps that lead to the prison that held Suigetsu.

"What were you doing down here?" He calmly asked before looking back at the thin girl in front of him.

"Kabuto asked me to pick something for him," she showed the bottle.

Sasuke nodded while walking towards the girl. Silently she started walking right next to him.

Sasuke was training the whole morning with Orochimaru and for some reason she wasn't allowed to join them. It was Orochimaru's decision, but Sakura thought it better to follow through rather than fight against him.

As they neared the other lab Sasuke finally stopped and turned back to Sakura, "Get your stuff from there and come back to the room."

Sakura nodded and hurried in. Kabuto was patiently reading something on the counter when Sakura placed the small vial next to him.

"Here."

Kabuto's eyes lingered on her form for a moment, before he took the vial. Then his attention was solely on the beaker he worked on and Sakura was entirely forgotten.

Grabbing the book with her, she left the room. Sasuke had already disappeared from the hallway and she made her way back to their room, alone.

Sasuke was in the shower when she got in the room. Sakura sat on the bed sideways and opened the book and started reading. She couldn't get the sight of Suigetsu out of her head. Not because he was naked, but in general. This whole thing just bothered her. By being here with Sasuke seemed to be more of a burden that anything else. She wanted to get out of here.

But where could she go? If the Council of Konoha was after her then there weren't many places she could hide. Now after Naruto almost discovering her and everything, her cover might have been blown. On the other hand, if Sasuke hadn't used his sharingan on her and she had seen Naruto would everything be okay?

Would she be safely back in Kohoha with everyone else or would there still be a threat over her, head. Naruto's presence won't honestly affect the elders one bit. There's no way they would change their minds over eliminating her. She would be dead right now. But by being here and watching Orochimaru torture these people wasn't right either.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke finally asked when he came from the shower. He had only a pair of pants on and water was still dripping from his hair.

Sakura's face was contorted with deep line of confusion and thinking. Relaxing her head, she leaned fully against the wall behind her.

"I want to get out." She said truth fully. "Being here and seeing these things is making me more and more anxious to get away."

Sasuke stood silently in the room taking in the tired looking girl on the bed.

"I know." He finally said. "You just need to hang on a bit longer."

"How long exactly?"

"Few weeks, maybe a month."

"Can't you be more specific, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke placed the towel he used to dry his hair on the chair in the room before walking in front of Sakura. He stretched his hands to grab Sakura to pull her on the edge of the bed.

"Couple more weeks, Sakura. That's all I'm asking of you. Then we'll get out of here, finally."

"What are you even waiting for?" More times than not, it was hard to read what was going on in Sasuke's head. He was so silent and brooding most of the time that she only recognized when he wanted something from her. Everything else inside his head was off limits to everyone.

He leaned down to her level, and to Sakura's surprise kissed the side of her lips and whispered, "For the right time."

* * *

_So what did you guys think? I really want to hear your thoughts? Am I progressing the SasuSaku relationship too fast?_

_Thanks for reviewers:_

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\- Jakura


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Only the parts that I'm adapting into the original story line._

**Fated Encounter**

**CHAPTER 15**

* * *

It was early in the morning when Sasuke was sitting on the edge of his bed. Sakura was still sound asleep on the bed with no signs of waking up any time soon. Her breathing was calm and steady as her body was turned towards him. It was natural reaction for her while they slept. She often craved to be near him and even unconsciously sought his scent out.

The past few weeks were calm in the hideout with nothing interesting occurring. Except a mission that Orochimaru had decided to embark Kabuto on. One of his followers, a woman with unusual technique had arrived and instead of using Sasuke, Orochimaru used Kabuto. For a while, Sasuke was baffled only in his own mind with this, but eventually everything had cleared out.

There wasn't need for Sasuke to join a team that was supposed to show if the kunoichi could replace him. Orochimaru never said it to his face personally that he might not want to have him as his next vessel, but the confrontation with the kunoichi told him the truth. It was obvious since the moment that woman passed by him in the hallways that she disapproved of him.

She demanded that Sasuke wasn't worthy of being the next body for Orochimaru. Sasuke could have laughed at her. Did she think that he could care less about being the next vessel of the Snake Sannin? Sasuke mostly ignored her demands and left her alone.

After a week, Kabuto returned and as Sasuke was passing by Orochimaru's room with Sakura, the two men were talking about a failed mission. Sakura had glanced at him in confusion, since she wasn't present with the ordeal over a week ago. She had read through all the poison books in the hideout and done nothing more. Mostly she stayed either in one of the labs or in their room.

Sasuke only shook his head in dismissal at the questioning stare.

It wasn't anything important.

But since that day weeks ago, the kunoichi had not returned, and Kabuto seemed to be much happier for some odd reason. Putting two and two together Sasuke came to conclusion that she had either died or left Orochimaru's side.

A soft knock resonated through the door after a while and Sasuke got up.

Kabuto was waiting behind the door with an impatient look on his face.

"Orochimaru-sama wants to see you, right now." He said urgently before turning around and storming off down the hall. He didn't wait an answer from Sasuke as he disappeared to another hallway.

Kabuto seemed to be much more on the edge than usually. Sasuke knew that it had to be about Orochimaru's health. His health was slowly going down and more often, than not, he stayed inside the hideout.

For the past two weeks, they haven't trained at all. Not after the training session where Sasuke had to take care of a huge group of shinobi attacking him all at once. After that was the mission he wasn't asked to embark on.

Walking back into the room, Sasuke leaned over the bed and shook Sakura's shoulder.

She didn't wake up immediately and instead snuggled more into the pillow.

"Sakura." Sasuke said and shook her a little more.

"What?" She finally mumbled with a tired tone. '

"I'll be back soon."

His words seemed to snap her from her sleep as her eyes flew right open.

"What?" This time she asked much more loudly. "Where are you going?"

"Orochimaru wants to see me." Sasuke explained and started walking towards the door.

Sakura had already pulled the blanket tighter around herself as she said to him, "Come back soon."

Orochimaru's room was across the hideout since Sasuke didn't feel safe enough to have Sakura too close to the Snake Sannin. He much rather had her as far away from the man as possible. Sakura, too, seemed to like that idea better than anything else.

Both Kabuto and Orochimaru were waiting for him with Kabuto leaning to give his master a tea cup. Orochimaru's pale face was much paler than usually and his body somehow weaker. But with a grin as Sasuke entered the room, he tried to hide some of the weakness his body had succumbed into.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, what a pleasant surprise." Orochimaru chuckled as he took a sip from the tea given to him.

"What is it?" Sasuke merely glared impatiently and was rewarded by another glare from Kabuto.

"Always straight to the point." Orochimaru mumbled to himself. "I need you to get me something. A person, to be precise."

"Who?"

"A man named Shinnō. He's a well-known medical-nin from the Land of the Sky and a past friend of mine. He has some knowledge that I need." The man explained with earnest.

"Where can I find him?"

Orochimaru's eyes turned to Kabuto, who replied, "He's been seen around the Land of Fire. The Land of the Sky have attacked Konoha and caused serious amount of damage everywhere. One of our spies spotted him and you need to collect him as soon as possible. He has a long white hair and an impressive size. Not very easy to miss."

Sasuke felt his annoyance rise even more. He couldn't care less to be around Konoha or the Land of Fire. It only meant that Naruto was around and a meeting with him was very likely to happen. Especially if someone attacked Konoha, then the Uzumaki boy was going to be in the front lines fighting.

"But I'm sure our Sasuke-kun is capable enough to find him." Orochimaru added with another grin. "You leave as soon as you can."

Sasuke didn't wait to be dismissed and left the room more annoyed than he was entering it.

If Orochimaru was looking for a medical-nin it only meant that he was getting even more desperate. Soon he would have to execute his plan of finally getting rid of the Snake Sannin. Maybe even after this mission, Sasuke could finally finalize his plans.

Orochimaru wasn't getting any better at this rate and now was the right time to act. The sooner he got rid of him, the better.

* * *

Sakura was nervous. She was constantly on the move and wasn't even capable of sitting down for more than twenty minutes. Sasuke had left on his mission two days ago, but not before having a small conversation with her.

Technically it wasn't a conversation. He merely told her that he would be gone for two or three days at max, and when he returned she needed to be ready to leave. And before he had closed the door to her tired form almost lying on the bed in a puddle of confusion, he told her to not let anyone know of her preparation.

If Kabuto tried to come into the room she needed to have her stuff so that no suspicion would rise. In other words, Sakura couldn't pack anything. All her clothes were still in the drawer and the book she was interested in still lying on the desk with her notes all over them.

Would she even have time to take her noted with her? Were they going to leave so soon that she would need to leave all her hard work behind?

She could always start from the beginning if they settled anywhere, but Orochimaru's library was full of scrolls and books that couldn't be found anywhere. And that is how she came up with an idea to collect a small book from the notes.

Scouting through the piles and making three pages worth of notes fit into half a page was her task for the past few days. Even though she was mentally exhausted, it didn't mean that her body was.

She was completely and utterly on the edge. Sleep was something that she used to enjoy especially when Sasuke laid next to her, but now she couldn't even sleep. There were no nightmares of needles coming her way or Kabuto's disgusting face looming over her and telling her that it was only going to hurt a little.

Her skin even seemed to be having a tantrum, because the clothes that she used were way more uncomfortable than they normally would be. Leaving Orochimaru and Kabuto behind was something Sakura has been waiting for a while now, but now that it was going to happen she felt nervous. It was ridiculous to be honest.

Sakura wanted nothing more than to destroy the Snake-like-man and burn his remains to ashes, but this had become her norm. And how long would it be until she found another normal for her? Would they be traveling constantly with Sasuke and would it only be the two of them?

Sasuke wanted to find Itachi, and that was his ultimate goal to achieve. Sakura would help him with that, but what was going to happen after that?

And since they were going to be on the move, it was going to be much easier for Konoha's spies to spot her. Maybe the Elders were going to send assassins after her.

Shaking her head and scratching her head, Sakura huffed in frustration.

Why was she constantly upsetting herself?

Thinking about these things wasn't going to help her at all.

They were only making her even more stressed out.

Too deep in thought, Sakura didn't even hear the door to her room open until the person had come inside. The split second that she realized someone had come in, her body was ready to attack the intruder and, in the darkness, she did. It was entirely a reflex as her body jumped on top of the person inside the room.

It was very out of character for her. Normally she would wait and see whoever had come inside, but she didn't seem to be that ready for anything. Later she would think that this was only because of the exhaustion of her mind. Not sleeping for a few days did that to a person.

And since the room was so dark for her trying to even get a little bit rest, she couldn't properly see who had come in. The torches outside the room, in the hallway, had been turned off a long time ago.

It was almost pitch dark in the room.

Her body went down on the floor with the person, but even before she could properly attack them she realized that it was Sasuke.

"Sakura?" He questioned under her and Sakura could imagine his brow lifting a little.

"S-Sasuke-kun! I'm so sorry!" Sakura panicked and tried to get off him quickly. Unfortunately, his hands were planted on her hips to keep her stable and she couldn't get up that easily.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke questioned her again and Sakura blushed as she took in the position they were in. She was literally sprawled all over him with her legs on either side of his body.

"I thought you were an intruder?" She shrugged her shoulders nervously.

In the darkness, Sakura could easily imagine the slight twitch in Sasuke's eye that he usually had for one of her antics. It was a hilarious look to her, but in this situation, it was only embarrassing. She wasn't the type of girl to throw themselves at guys, especially at Sasuke.

Suddenly Sasuke rose from the floor to sit with Sakura on his lap. Sakura's arms were braced on his shoulders to not fall completely on her back with the swift motion.

"Have you packed?" He asked her gently and she nodded even if Sasuke probably couldn't see her.

"Good." Well, it seems that he saw her. "Because we're leaving in two hours."

* * *

_This is a short one but an update nonetheless. Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter Sasuke and Sakura will finally leave the hideout behind._

_Thanks for reviewers:_

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_I can honestly say that I've probably never had so many reviews for any of my chapters before. And it really warms my heart to know that you guys like this so much!_

_I went back and tried fixing some mistakes from previous chapters. Hopefully it did some kind of difference. But no events or anything was changed. Only typing errors and grammar a little. I realized that I wrote Orochimaru's name wrong the most. XD_

_\- Jakura_


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